Pierpaolo Piccioli is back in the thick of it again, after what turned out to be his gap year from Valentino. The reveal of his first collection for Balenciaga is tomorrow—the culmination of a whiplash string of events which (deep breath) had: Alessandro Michele leaving Gucci for Valentino, Sabato de Sarno coming and going at Gucci, Demna leaving Balenciaga for Gucci, and Pierpaolo settled right where he is now, looking at me from his office at Balenciaga HQ, on a Zoom call.

PPP , as we know him for short, is tanned and wearing a pale gray T-shirt with his coral necklace, and some other strings of things around his neck. First, I want to check on how he is. What’s it’s like to actually have the luxury of a proper work break for the first time in 34 years? “I took time for myself, for my

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