NEW RECRUIT: Bruno Sialelli, who rose to prominence as creative director of Lanvin between 2019 and 2023, recently joined Balenciaga‘s couture studio, according to market sources.
His title and start date could not immediately be learned.
Contacted by WWD on Friday, Balenciaga said the house doesn’t comment on the composition of its studio. Sialelli did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pierpaolo Piccioli, appointed Balenciaga’s creative director last July, is set to show his first haute couture collection on July 8 during Paris Couture Week. (Piccioli‘s the most anticipated debut of the week, given his long experience and widespread acclaim at Valentino in Rome.)
Balenciaga resumed its couture activity in 2021 under then-creative director Demna, more than 50 years after Cristóbal Balenciaga closed his legendary couture house. Christian Dior once called the Spanish couturier “the master of us all.”
Sialleli was most recently head of ready-to-wear design at Phoebe Philo in London, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In a curious coincidence, he follows in the footsteps of Peter Copping, Lanvin’s current artistic director, who also worked in Balenciaga’s couture studio after a career leading brands including Nina Ricci and Oscar de la Renta.
A 2010 graduate of French fashion school Studio Berçot, Sialelli started his career as an assistant fashion designer and worked there until 2014, when he moved to Acne Studios as senior womenswear designer.
His résumé also includes stints at Paco Rabanne and Loewe, as head of menswear.
Lanvin and Balenciaga were among more than a dozen prominent European fashion houses to have welcomed new creative leaders last year.
