Influential london-based menswear designer Martine Rose has made history as the first woman and first Black woman appointed creative director of Balenciaga in the French luxury fashion house’s 109-year history.
The London-born designer’s appointment was announced on November 6th, 2026, by Balenciaga’s parent company, Kering. She will officially assume the position on November 16th, succeeding Italian designer Pierpaolo Piccioli, whose departure was announced the previous day.
Rose’s appointment is another significant milestone for Black women in international fashion. She becomes only the second Black woman to take on a major creative leadership role at a European luxury fashion house, following British-Jamaican designer Grace Wales Bonner, who was appointed creative director of menswear at Hermès in 2025.
A Return to Balenciaga, This Time at the Helm
For Rose, the appointment marks a return to a fashion house where she previously helped shape its creative direction.
Between 2015 and 2018, she worked as a menswear consultant for Balenciaga under former creative director Demna, contributing to the oversized silhouettes and unconventional designs that became associated with the brand during that period.
Now, she returns to oversee the fashion house’s creative direction across its men’s and women’s collections.
In announcing her appointment, Kering praised Rose’s distinctive approach to fashion, particularly her ability to connect contemporary culture, identity and design.
Rose described the appointment as a privilege, acknowledging Balenciaga’s heritage and expressing her commitment to building on the work of the designers who preceded her.
An Unconventional Fashion Career
Born in South London to a Jamaican father and British mother, Martine Rose has built an international reputation for designs influenced by London’s multicultural communities and subcultures.
Rose has often credited her Jamaican upbringing and extended family with shaping her approach to fashion. In a 2024 interview with ELLE UK, she explained, “I grew up in a Jamaican household and style is way above fashion.”
Her earliest inspirations were her older siblings and cousins, whom she would watch getting dressed for nights out, each embracing different styles and music, from reggae to rave culture. “My family, my blood family, they have been my inspiration from the very beginning,” she recalled in an interview for Finley Markez Presents: My Life, My Inspiration.
After studying fashion at Middlesex University, Rose established her namesake label in 2007. Her unconventional approach to tailoring, exaggerated proportions and distinctive silhouettes helped establish her as one of Britain’s most influential contemporary menswear designers.
Over the years, she has collaborated with international brands including Nike and Supreme, while her designs have attracted admirers across music and entertainment. Among them is American rapper Kendrick Lamar, who wore a custom Martine Rose jacket during his 2025 Super Bowl halftime performance.
In 2023, Rose was appointed the first guest creative director of British footwear brand Clarks, a particularly meaningful collaboration given the brand’s longstanding cultural connection to Jamaica and its prominence in dancehall fashion.
Jamaican Influence In High Fashion
Rose’s latest achievement further underscores the growing influence of women of Jamaican heritage in creative leadership positions at the highest levels of international high fashion.
In 2025, Jamaicans.com highlighted several of these trailblazers in its feature, The Women of Jamaican Heritage Dominating High Fashion.
Among them was Grace Wales Bonner, whose appointment at Hermès marked a major breakthrough for Black women in European luxury fashion.
With Rose now taking the creative helm at Balenciaga, two women of Jamaican heritage hold influential creative leadership positions at two of Europe’s most established luxury fashion houses.
For Rose, whose career has been shaped by the cultural influences of her Jamaican heritage and London upbringing, the appointment represents a remarkable progression from independent designer to the creative leader of one of fashion’s most recognisable names.
