Pierre Balmain was one of many earliest designers to know the ability of celeb in vogue. The French couturier constructed shut relationships with the superstars of his period, dressing them for the stage and display screen — a legacy that continues below the home’s present artistic director, Olivier Rousteing.
When Balmain launched his namesake home in post-war Paris, he launched a waist-cinched silhouette that shortly turned a favourite among the many celeb set. He dressed icons equivalent to Josephine Baker, Brigitte Bardot, Katharine Hepburn and Sophia Loren, serving to outline the visible language of Twentieth-century fame.
Baker turned a longtime collaborator, with Balmain designing elaborate, symbolic and glamorous ensembles for her movie and stage performances. One standout was the 1951 “4 Seasons” robe, paired with a velvet jacket that includes a dramatically tall collar. Their partnership endured till her ultimate present in 1975, cementing her picture as a vogue icon.
Balmain additionally collaborated with Bardot on a number of movies. For “Her Bridal Evening,” he created a layered tulle marriage ceremony robe with floral appliqués. “And God Created Lady” showcased Bardot’s carefree persona in jumpsuits and female attire, whereas “Love Is My Occupation” launched pencil skirts, wrap coats and signature LBDs.
Although Audrey Hepburn is most carefully related to Givenchy, she wore Balmain for her 1954 marriage ceremony to Mel Ferrer, selecting a tea-length gown with a satin sash, ballgown sleeves and excessive collar.
For Katharine Hepburn, Balmain designed the wardrobe for the 1952 West Finish manufacturing of “The Millionairess,” together with an embroidered robe with matching beaded gloves. When the movie was remade in 1960 starring Sophia Loren, Balmain once more took the reins, designing a pink gown with extravagant jewellery that married cinematic magnificence with star energy.
His Hollywood connections continued with Jane Fonda, who wore Balmain within the 1964 thriller “Pleasure Home,” including Riviera glamour to the movie’s intrigue.
Balmain’s deeply private, long-running collaboration with French famous person Dalida produced a lot of her most memorable stage and movie appears — from the dramatic black velvet and gold Lurex cape ensemble worn in her 1983 Montreal live performance to the ethereal white “Ziberline” robe of 1973.
In a tribute, Dalida as soon as stated: “Pierre Balmain, for me, was life in pink, in silk, in lace — and generally in rhinestones.”
A number of of her Balmain designs have been later exhibited at Paris’ Palais Galliera in a 2017 retrospective present.
From the ’60s by the ’80s, Balmain additionally designed extensively for Queen Sirikit of Thailand, creating greater than twenty years’ value of royal daywear and night robes — many combining Western silhouettes with trendy Thai silk. These items at the moment are preserved on the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok.
The Rousteing Period
Olivier Rousteing has inherited and advanced Balmain’s celeb custom, crafting red-carpet and arena-concert appears for a brand new era of stars whereas forming his personal “Balmain Military” of fashions and influencers.
One of many first luxurious designers to make use of social media like a digital native, Rousteing embraced Instagram early on. He noticed its potential not solely as an promoting platform, however as a cultural divining rod to level to music tendencies and general generational shifts. He has used social media to remain forward of the curve by understanding the cultural second earlier than it occurs.
He coined the time period “Balmain Military” to explain his collective of fashions, musicians, actors and influencers who symbolize the model. It turned a cultural motion representing numerous magnificence and elegance.
His imaginative and prescient merges excessive vogue with mass media, typically blurring the road between runway and pop spectacle.
In 2022, Rousteing made headlines by bringing Cher onstage to shut his stadium present — open to the general public, in a daring transfer that merged vogue week with pageant vitality. It was a full-circle second in Balmain’s longstanding relationship with music legends.
On the 2018 American Music Awards, Taylor Swift wore a futuristic Balmain minidress and thigh-high boots paired with snake jewellery — a glance that shattered her “princess” picture and aligned completely along with her rebellious “Status” period.
For the 2022 Grammys, Rousteing labored with Lil Nas X on a totally customized Balmain wardrobe, together with crimson carpet, stage and even backstage loungewear — showcasing the home’s boundary-pushing imaginative and prescient.
However no trendy collaboration has been extra vital than Rousteing’s ongoing partnership with Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, whom he calls his “eternally muse.” Their artistic relationship started throughout her “Formation” tour and reached a peak at Coachella 2018, when Rousteing designed the wardrobe for Knowles-Carter and her 200-plus dancers and musicians. The efficiency, dubbed “Beychella,” turned a vogue and cultural milestone.
In 2023, they deepened their collaboration with a 17-look couture assortment, codesigned by Rousteing and Knowles-Carter as a tribute to each her musical journey and the Balmain archive. The appears debuted on the Grammys and Brit Awards and have already been cemented as main vogue moments.
A grasp of media and timing, Rousteing has an intuition for choosing the proper celeb on the proper second. He doesn’t simply depend on established A-listers, he typically works with skills earlier than their huge breakthroughs, which in flip helps create them.
Working example: Tyla’s sculptural Balmain robe on the 2024 Met Gala — a body-hugging moist look crafted to resemble poured sand — match the “Backyard of Time” theme, however quite than an anticipated floral, he approached it with a brand new twist. It instantly went viral and have become a defining second for the rising singer to cement herself as a vogue drive.
The next 12 months, Jenna Ortega wore a Balmain creation comprised of silver tailoring tape and metallic rulers, an avant-garde nod to the artistry of couture building. The look was intelligent and performed up each the younger actress’ star potential and her willingness to take dangers simply as she was rising as a crimson carpet wild card.
What units Rousteing aside is his sense of cultural timing, his intuition to see stars as storytellers and his capacity to anticipate the tradition, not simply comply with a pattern, to hold forth the home of Balmain.
