Martine Rose Is the New Creative Director of Balenciaga

Fashion fans rejoice: Martine Rose has officially been appointed creative director of Balenciaga following yesterday’s exit of Pierpaolo Piccioli. This appointment represents a welcome departure from the circulation of familiar names for these creative director roles and symbolizes a shift back to an edgier Balenciaga established by Demna. She begins November 16.Rose was rumored to be up for the job when it became available after Demna’s departure to Gucci in 2025. And it’s a homecoming; when Demna was appointed to Balenciaga as creative director in 2015, he brought Rose on as a menswear consultant. In her three years working there, she helped to shape the look of his very distinctive vision.Rose was born in South London in 1980 to a British Jamaican family. Her mother was a nurse and her father was an accountant. She spent her childhood around slightly older relatives deeply immersed in ’90s rave subcultures.