“For too many years, the legendary ateliers, boutiques and runways of Paris have only been open to a very lucky select few,” stated Rousteing of the launch. “We’d like to try to begin to change that, by inviting as many members of our Balmain Army as possible into our Balmain universe.”
App users will be able to watch shows – the January 18 men’s show will be uploaded online the day after it takes place, and the January 23 haute couture show (the house’s first in 16 years) will be live-streamed – and view an immersive tour of Balmain’s Saint Honoré flagship, which is due to open in February. For Parisians, augmented reality content can also be accessed by scanning posters that were plastered across the city’s walls the night before news of the app broke. Similar initiatives will be rolled out across Europe throughout 2019.
“The app is the final element of the strategy we are rolling out to launch the new monogram, the new logo, and to support overall the new communication strategy of Balmain,” Balmain’s chief executive officer Massimo Piombini told WWD. “This is a way to connect with the next generation, with new customers, with a segment of customers that are close to the brand that are expecting from us these kinds of new features.”
The app can certainly be seen as a step closer towards Rousteing’s mission to democratise his fashion – but only digitally. “I create a world that is expensive because with Balmain it’s luxury, but if you think of my ideas and ideologies it’s more than a price on the clothes,” he told Vogue in May 2017. The next phase of his Balmaination will be to balance his revival of couturewith accessible product lines, such as his past collaborations with H&M and L'Oréal Paris. For now, there's a shiny new toy to play with.
No comments:
Post a Comment