Balmain

Today's lecture was a quite interesting one. We were talking about brands and their stories. How important they are in the world of fashion and how they have changed trough history. I immediately thought about Balmain and Oliver Rousteing so I had to dedicate this post to him.

History

House of Balmain was created in 1945 by Pierre Balmain. Right before creating his own house he worked alongside Hubert de Givency and Christian Dior in Lucien Lelong's atelier. His house soon became very popular thanks to very different but feminine styles combined with rich fabrics and beautiful tailoring. He was one of the designers that revitalized Parisian couture after WW2.

Alice B. Toklas wrote after Balmain’s presentation of his first collection, ''suddenly there was the awakening to a new understanding of what mode really was, the embellishment and the intensification of women's form and charm.''

In 1950's, thanks to Hollywood stars like Marlene Dietrich, Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren, Balmain's creations were appreciated by whole world and taken to another level.

Since Pierre's death in 1982 many designers guided his house but no one made as big impression as current Balmain's designer Oliver Rousteing.

present

Oliver Rousteing, then a 25 year old designer, took over house of Balmain and became Creative Director in 2011. Since then, he had made many successful projects and accomplished to promote house and create his own signature based on Balmain's rich archive. With a little help of tradition he started designing for younger generations in attempt to make their lives easier and more stylish. He is constantly following, but also making new trends that are easily recognizable and well known all around the world.

Big part of his creations exist because of music that is huge part of his life and his source of inspiration. Thanks to that, he had many collaborations with famous musicians. His first one was with Kanye for Wolves: Fall collection 2016 that was extremely successful. Collabs with Justin Bieber, Beyonce , Rihanna and J Lo came right after and have made Balmain even more desirable.

Oliver's autobiography movie has been made recently and is currently showing only in France but hopefully it will come to the UK soon.

Honestly, I do not have any idols in my life, but if I had them, Oliver would surely be my number one. His hard work paid off and made him one of the most wanted fashion icons ever. His not so easy life made him work his ass off and never stop wanting more even though he became Balmain's CD. He showed us that he is just a human, he cares about his coworkers like they are his family and is always giving 101% to make Pierre's house best in the world.

Photos: Balmain.com