Balmain's Boy On The London Store

Balmain´s Olivier Rousteing is opening the brand's first European flagship in London, and the designer asserts that the British capital was a natural choice for the label's first store outside Paris.

"London is a very important city for Balmain, we have always had a very loyal clientele so it all came very naturally," Rousteing told us today. "Opening Balmain's first European flagship was quite an obvious choice for the house and Mayfair was the most ideal location for Balmain. South Audley Street is definitely a new shopping destination in the city and Balmain is very happy to be one the first houses to settle there."

Olivier Rousteing

The store itself, as expected, will channel Rousteing's signature easy French glamour - with perhaps just a soupçon of British spirit.

"We have worked with Joseph Dirand, the architect who oversaw the Paris flagship 2009 transformation, to translate Balmain French refinement into an English vocabulary," Rousteing explained. "The new 200sq m boutique has been created as a unique elegant London pied-à-terre that channels the classically sober English style, it is Balmain's second home."

Not only Balmain's second home, one would imagine, but also a stylish base for an army of Balmain fans from this side of the Channel - including some of Rousteing's favourite Brit girls: "Katie Grand, Charlotte Stockdale, Cara Delevingne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jourdan Dunn."

The label also launched its ecommerce store this week, a key "development for a fashion house like Balmain," Rousteing added - but aside from the important business of fashion, Rousteing already has his eye on a spectacular London opening party.

"The opening will be about friends having fun," he said. "London is more about individualism and freedom, it is a very inspiring city that I love to visit, and it's so close to Paris!"