The Heated Rivalry star ditched his runway look mid-show as soaring Paris temperatures made front-row seating unbearable at Pierpaolo Piccioli’s first Balenciaga couture outing
“Oh my God. Don’t look at me!” begged Heated Rivalry actor Hudson Williams, who confessed he was “pouring” with sweat from his front-row seat at today’s Balenciaga couture show. Williams turned up in a relaxed, chocolate brown double-breasted suit, but wasted little time peeling it off once seated, spending the rest of the show in a plain black tank top rather than his intended outfit.
The internet had thoughts. “Save his Canadian ass from the heat!” one Instagram commenter wrote, while another quipped: “idk whether to feel sorry for Hudson or thank the sun for allowing us to see his arms.” To be fair, Paris was sitting at 30 degrees — a solid 10 degrees down from the previous week’s menswear shows, but still punishing for anyone parked in direct sun waiting for a runway to come to life.
It was the third day of the AW26 couture season, and the morning belonged to Pierpaolo Piccioli’s inaugural Balenciaga haute couture collection. Staged outdoors at the grand Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, the show drew a roster of equally overheated guests, among them Lily Collins — styled as Audrey Hepburn in a nod to her role in a forthcoming film about the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s — alongside Teyana Taylor and her knee-length copper hair, Cynthia Erivo, Shailene Woodley and Thai actor PP Krit.
The discomfort wasn’t limited to the audience. As an autumn-winter collection, the runway called for serious layering, leaving models like Anok Yai, Gigi Hadid and Alva Claire bundled up in the heat. Yai launched the show in a bulky red heart-shaped jacket, while Hadid disappeared inside a black, feathered, egg-shaped shawl.
A few models contended with the added warmth of furry, feathered trousers — fuzzy calves peeking out beneath trench coats like werewolves caught mid-transformation. One jacket vanished under thousands of fluffy beige feathers in a full yeti effect. Elsewhere, Piccioli leaned into house heritage: fresh takes on Cristóbal Balenciaga’s sack dress, plenty of black (the founder’s signature) and his celebrated barrel and balloon silhouettes. The season’s most unexpected accessory, though? Beads of sweat — courtesy of Hudson Williams.
