Olivier Rousteing scaled back
When the invitation said Carreau du Temple – the large-scale event space in Les Marais – we thought we were in for a typical Balmain experience. We were wrong. Inside, Olivier Rousteing had lined up just 200 seats for a show that evoked the format of an old-world haute couture presentation. There were no stages, no performances, no gimmicks. Just clothes – or at least as “just” as things get at Balmain. With Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” on the soundtrack, Rousteing’s collection interpreted the “new French style” proposed by Pierre Balmain in 1945 through the amplified lens of his own generational view.
It was all about the clothes
“I think a lot of people misunderstand who I am,” a mellow Rousteing said backstage before the show. “There were a lot of fireworks around my work and people couldn’t see the craft and what I love to do. People see my amount of followers and my friendships with celebrities, and they forget sometimes the amount of hours I spend in my atelier, too, to make collections happen.” The 52 looks he presented to his intimate audience flexed his savoir-faire muscle in highly sculptural tailoring, intricate dress constructions and deluxe sportswear that all revolved around a ’40s silhouette, with hats by Stephen Jones.
It imbued couture with comfort
“We need to remember what 1945 means. It was the year after the Second World War, so Monsieur Balmain couldn’t find fabric, leather, anything to create his own world. And he made it! So, today is an homage to the house: the past, the present, tomorrow,” Rousteing explained. He approached the Balmain archives with a contemporary sense of comfort, adding his own generational values of de-constriction and relaxation to the silhouette without compromising its chicness. The idea was epitomised in couture-y tracksuits, which – alongside bags composed of stacked suitcases – nailed the rich traveller look. “She’s someone who goes and discovers the world. This is Balmain. It’s not just based in Paris. It’s based in the world,” he said.
It was a statement of timelessness
Contemporary fashion’s obsession with an haute couture moment isn’t new, but recently, it has spread to the mainstream in a way that seems to know no bounds. This awards season, the red carpets of America and England have been dominated by extravagant glamour moment that more than border on the theatrical. “When you have so many pictures every two seconds on social media, you start to almost forget what quality means. And we have been obsessed the extravaganza of everything that’s going so fast, but at the end of the day, quality stays forever,” Rousteing said, contemplating the rise of couture. “I think what’s cool today is being timeless.”
Rousteing called it a “reset”
Did this season’s intimate, chilled-out show format mark a new approach to presentations for Rousteing’s Balmain? “I get older. I get more mature. Today is a new chapter for me and I want to make sure that people feel good and appreciate my world,” he said. “I think I will go back to va-va-voom at some point, but in a different way. Today is a reset.”
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