Balmain Holiday 2025 Ad Campaign

Review of Balmain Holiday 2025 Ad Campaign by Creative Directors Ezra Petronio and Lana Petrusevych and Photographer John Yuyi

Balmain enters the holiday season with a campaign that captures the quiet electricity of getting ready—those polished, private moments when the night feels full of promise and the mirror becomes its own stage. Shot by John Yuyi and shaped by the creative direction of Ezra Petronio and Lana Petrusevych, the Holiday Campaign frames the Pre-Spring 2026 collection within a cinematic hotel-suite world where elegance gathers its composure just before stepping out. Consider it the brand’s ode to anticipation, delivered with its signature Parisian confidence.

Yuyi’s imagery thrives on intimacy without spectacle. Models move through softly lit rooms with a sense of ease—friends adjusting cuffs, smoothing fabrics, sharing a look that signals the night ahead. The tone is warm and contemporary, with candid framing that keeps the scenes feeling lived-in rather than staged. Balmain’s rich palette and sculptural silhouettes appear almost illuminated from within, their glossy and glitchy textures playing off the quiet hum of the environment. It’s a mood that feels polished yet personal, spirited yet grounded.

The storytelling succeeds in capturing a very modern kind of glamour: not showy, but self-assured. The campaign’s strength lies in its ability to convey energy without overt motion—every gesture is precise, every frame composed, yet nothing feels overworked. This balance allows the Pre-Spring 2026 designs to reveal the subtleties of their construction. Sharp tailoring, gleaming surfaces, and Balmain’s recognizably architectural lines add a sense of momentum to the stillness, as if the rooms themselves are preparing for the night alongside their occupants.

If the campaign leans on a “glitchy” finish at times, it mostly enhances the narrative—a visual reminder that glamour doesn’t have to be pristine to be powerful. A lighter touch in a few frames might have allowed the textures to breathe even more, but the experimental edge aligns with Yuyi’s contemporary lens and Balmain’s appetite for innovation. The team finds harmony between candid spontaneity and high-fashion precision, a balance that’s not easy to land.

As a whole, the campaign feels like a celebration of the in-between—those last few beats before a night begins, when confidence settles in like a final accessory. It’s Balmain at its most modern: chic, elevated, and charged with a quiet kind of heat that doesn’t need to announce itself.

And in true holiday spirit, the campaign reminds us of a simple truth: sometimes the most stylish moments happen before we ever leave the room.