Balenciaga Winter 2025 Ad Campaign

Review of Balenciaga Winter 2025 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Dovile Drizyte and Photographer Juergen Teller with models Nicole Kidman, Isabelle Huppert, Claudia Schiffer, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Arthur Chen, Liu Wen, Adut, and Roxane

Photographed by Juergen Teller and co-conceived with his creative partner Dovile, Balenciaga’s Winter 2025 campaign reinterprets his iconic series “The Clients” as a layered tableau of couture clientele, offering a nuanced yet unvarnished portrait of the house’s evolving identity through both still and motion picture. Set against the decadent interiors of a hotel in Biarritz, the campaign features brand ambassadors and actors Nicole Kidman, Isabelle Huppert, supermodel Claudia Schiffer, actors Patrick Schwarzenegger and Arthur Chen, alongside models Liu Wen, Adut, and Roxane, who as a collective hold a presence that quietly underscores the brand’s enduring cultural cachet. This campaign offers a raw, stylized portrait of transition, both in narrative and for the house, with the departure of creative director Demna. As Pierpaolo began in July, this could likely be a visual representation of Demna’s last collection for the house. The work: neither nostalgic nor showy, instead carves out a reflective tone, serving as a contemplative coda to his turbulent and era-defining tenure.

Visually, the campaign leans into a tension between glamour and grit. Teller’s signature unfiltered aesthetic—with its straight-on compositions—juxtaposes elegantly with gilded staircases, faded carpeting, and salon upholstery. Within this ornate yet lived-in setting, models lounge or stand almost incidentally, wearing sculptural tailoring and slouched silhouettes, with some looks offering an athletic styling, including pieces from the Balenciaga | PUMA collaboration. Although some creative aspects diverge from traditional luxury campaign principles, this campaign features shots that capture both the subject and still life of the accessories, bringing an unexpected visual balance to the campaign. The imagery resists high-gloss polish, instead favoring sentiments of delicate unease and ambiguity—a subversive move that continues the house’s current penchant for unraveling fashion’s traditional codes. Still-life shots of accessories—waxed-suede Rodeo bags and Shibuya satin pumps lend the campaign a structured anchor within the elusiveness of its portraits. A companion video, directed by Teller, layers his signature candor with personal narration—offering an introspective glimpse into his visual methodology and the quiet provocations behind his lens.

While the Fall 2025 Couture runway show left some viewers with a muted sense of finality, the campaign succeeds in distilling its quiet ambition. There’s no grand farewell here, only a mirror held up to Balenciaga’s internal register. Demna: a designer historically preoccupied with irony and confrontation, now engaging in something more subdued. The campaign strengthens what the collection itself only hinted at: a reverent nod to the house’s roots, his own arc, and the layered value of restraint. That said, the visual language may prove too opaque for those craving narrative clarity. Yet perhaps that’s the point—this isn’t about explanation, but excavation.

In a house famed for rupture and provocation, the most surprising gesture is one of stillness. The Winter 2025 campaign doesn’t attempt to summarize legacy in a single frame. Instead, they gesture toward continuity of aesthetic, of creative collaboration, and brand loyalty through shifting leadership. In a period where transformation is on the horizon, this campaign doesn’t shout. It lingers, unsettled and unflinching, inviting us to simultaneously transform into the couture client and pause within the in-between.