Only two bags appeared on the Fall 2026 runway. Both were skeletal, glittering reworkings of the house’s most recognisable accessory.
Pierpaolo Piccioli’s first Haute Couture show for Balenciaga was not, on the face of it, a bag show. Models kept their hands buried in the pockets of feathered balloon jackets and olive-green sequin gowns, or displayed leather opera gloves in violet, burgundy and blue. Two looks carried a bag. Those two got all the attention.
The Fall 2026 collection was built around material and surface: hand-painted feathers, organza petals, floral embroidery deliberately blurred. The accessories followed the same logic. Piccioli reworked the house’s City bag into two couture versions, each built on a shiny sculptural metal skeleton with a body of crystal mesh.
The first out was silver on silver, styled with an ivory silk-and-wool maxi dress cut with boxy drop-shoulder sleeves and a high-low hem, finished with a single gold-plated feather earring and grey suede pumps.
The second came in green, picking up the silk turtleneck visible beneath a long taupe coat, worn with brown organza trousers embroidered with petals and black suede pumps.
The original arrived in 2001 as the Motorcycle City bag, designed under Nicolas Ghesquière, and became indie-sleaze shorthand — Kate Moss carried one, as did the Olsen twins and Nicole Richie. Its pull at the time had nothing to do with visible branding. It was slouchy, logo-free and recognisable only to people already paying attention, which is precisely why everyone wanted one. These days it reads as unmistakably Balenciaga anyway, monogram or not.
Sister silhouettes have followed over the years, most notably Demna’s Le Cagole in 2021 and the Le City in 2024. Piccioli’s crystal-mesh version is the latest addition to the lineage, and the first to arrive by way of couture.
