Fashion / news
Balenciaga Taps French Shoemaker J.M. Weston for Oxford Range in Winter 26 Collection
Balenciaga has unveiled a footwear collaboration with J.M. Weston, reworking classic oxfords for the house's winter 26 ClairObscur collection designed by Pierpaolo Piccioli. The line spans brogues, d'Orsay styles, a mule and a unisex loafer, each finished with a gold-foil collaboration logo on the insole.
The lace-up perforated wingtip brogue, cut in both men's and women's sizes, is reworked with worn edges, visible threads and metal Balenciaga Le City studs set across the upper. A men's asymmetrical d'Orsay carries wingtip perforations that trace a double-B logomark on each toe, with the shoe size marked on the heel in small metal nail heads.
A men's slip-on mule reconstitutes the brogue by folding the facing outward and letting the heel back fold inward, exposing the leather's natural interior colour. The unisex loafer is fitted with a foldable double tongue, debossed with a Balenciaga logo on the first layer and a J.M. Weston logo on the exposed inside of the second.
Every pair carries a purpose-made collaboration logo hot stamped in gold foil on the insole and is lined in natural-coloured calfskin. The styles were introduced within ClairObscur, the winter 26 collection, which was shown in Paris in March and took its title from the Renaissance technique of staging form through the contrast of light and shadow.
The collection was Piccioli's second runway show and third collection for the house, roughly a year into his tenure after succeeding Demna. Balenciaga is part of the Kering group.
J.M. Weston, founded in 1891 in Limoges, still manufactures in a single factory in the city and owns its own sole leather tannery. Its shoes take roughly 200 operations and several weeks to complete. The house holds France's Living Heritage Company designation and supplies boots to the Republican Guard.
The pairing places Balenciaga's contemporary output alongside one of the country's most conservative footwear houses.