Balenciaga Collaborates With HBO’s Euphoria for Cinematic AW26 Runway Show

With Euphoria season three due for release next month, the collaboration arrives at a timely buzz-generating moment. For Balenciaga, however, this is not the first time the brand has leaned into television culture. In 2021, the house premiered a custom animated episode featuring The Simpsons. The project saw characters from the long-running show walk a fictional Balenciaga runway during Paris Fashion Week. Yet unlike that moment, which functioned more as a playful cultural cameo, the AW26 presentation introduces a more integrated collaboration, with Sam Levinson, creator of Euphoria, working alongside Demna, creative director of Balenciaga, to shape a collection.

Titled “ClairObscur,” the collection explored the interplay of light and shadow, drawing on the dramatic painting techniques of Caravaggio while also channeling the moody aesthetic of the HBO series. The result was a show that sought to capture what Piccioli described as a portrait of today’s generation, its anxieties, contradictions, and emotional depth.

Sam Levinson played a key role in shaping the feel of the show, from directing the cinematic installation and visual storytelling to crafting the runway environment. Throughout the presentation, large-scale video projections showed scenes and teasers from the upcoming third season of Euphoria. Music from artists closely associated with the show—including Labrinth and Rosalía—formed the soundtrack of the show.

The collection, inspired by the dramatic contrasts of Chiaroscuro, leaned heavily into that tension, with styling reminiscent of Euphoria’s hyper-stylised portrayal of youth culture.

While fashion and television have long shared a longstanding relationship, the AW26 presentation stood out because of the rarely seen depth of creative partnership between a designer and a filmmaker.