Balenciaga has introduced the Hourglass Avenue, a new interpretation of the House’s signature silhouette. The bag cuts its own path within a legacy of architecturally driven design, merging the sophisticated and spontaneous attitudes that have come to define the brand.

The hourglass figure has run through Balenciaga’s history since Cristóbal Balenciaga began exploring it in the Summer 1943 collection, where tailored suits with peplumed jackets emphasised a protruding hip through internal padding rather than rigid corsetry. The appearance of restriction came from precise hidden seams that allowed room for movement, creating a suspended curve inside the garment. That architecture endures in the Hourglass line, and it informed the Hourglass Bag, introduced with the Winter 2019 collection. Its sculpted base keeps it from sitting flush against a flat surface, echoing that original concept of structure-bound suspension.

In 2026, the silhouette is reinvented by creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli as the Hourglass Avenue, a practical bag that favours grace of form over rigidity. Its shape is firm and relaxed at once, with an additional hinged handle for easier carry and a supple flap that folds over the top, enclosing the second handle. A magnetic lock closure is engraved with the address Balenciaga 10 Avenue George V, the historic location of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s Paris ateliers and the House’s headquarters today.

Take a better look below: