Olivier Rousteing: Balmain's Revolutionary Creative Director

Olivier Rousteing: Balmain's Creative Director

2021 marked Olivier Rousteing's ten years of journey in creating amazing works and influences he brought to the France house as the creative director of Balmain. Rousteing's journey in the couture fashion industry has started at the age of 18, when he moved to Italy and worked 5 years for Italian designer, Roberto Cavalli. In 2011, he took the role as the creative director of Balmain, and became one of the youngest designer to run the French fashion house. 

 'Diversity' became Rousteing main message he determined to express through his enthralling runway collection for the past decade.  "I’m proud today to speak about a world where you walk down the street and see so much diversity, different people, different colors, different races. It’s what I want to try to express in my catwalk, in my casting. " (Rousteing, 2017).  Although 'diversity' is not an uncommon idea to present, but not many fashion houses has successfully communicate these idea through their design and collection like what Olivier Rousteing did, which I think is a clever strategy to not just added meaningful message but also attract bigger attention by the unique concept of casting models who don't fit the traditional standard. 

Besides his modern vision of seeing the world, he also took a unique approach in setting Balmain's target audience. "Almost from the start, Rousteing had anti-elite ambitions: Reach beyond the domain of the fashion industry, he thinks, and you can summon pop-scale audiences" (vogue, 2021). "I decided to be a designer because I love clothes, fashion and the glamour of the fashion world. But I realized I didn’t want to just please the front row and the industry." (Rousteing, 2015). I agree that by giving more attention to the people as the audience rather than focusing on impressing the 'elite' will bring Balmain a step ahead, especially in these modern ad digitalize era where having a digital audience is a great potential. 

BALMAIN MEN'S SPRING 2016

Balmain 2016 Men’s Spring Collection 

Balmain men's 2016 collection was the first menswear show with Olivier Rousteing as the creative director. The theme for this collection is "safari coolness" which are presented with cargo pants, sandal-boots, crochet-pattern outer, safari jacket and  belts as well as flap pockets which make an appearance on this collection that is dominated in caramel-sand color. The concept and the look from this collection is what I wanted to include for my menswear design. Looking through the collection, I plan to incorporate the safari jacket, cargo pants, and the desert shades into my collection. For my menswear design I wanted to have a sporty look with utility gear and a combination of military green with sand-brown to present the 'masculine' of the design. 

Khaki safari jacket are an essential uniform which was wore originally by big game hunters in Africa as it was practical with lot of pockets. Most previous coats had been made from drill, a durable cotton twill that English had brought to Africa during the second Boer war. Their uniform consisted of a thigh-length belted jacket with four box-pleated pockets and epaulets at the shoulders (Szabo, 2022, p.222).  Accessorizing with belt strap, and flap pockets will enhance the 'utility style' I'm presenting. I also notice that Balmain add texture embellishment on the outer with crochet and basket-weave pattern. Textures like these are what I would like to include in my design. 

References:

- Balmain (2021). Olivier Rousteing | BALMAIN. [online] Balmain. Available at: https://us.balmain.com/en/experience/olivier-rousteing?srsltid=AfmBOorNqYdP4VTfewpGVWxrYf8Op8aUHwJGI04rZ52x7Uh2-1Mg-4l7 [Accessed 29 Jan. 2025].

-Balmain (n.d.). Pierre Balmain. [online] Balmain. Available at: https://us.balmain.com/en/experience/pierre-balmain [Accessed 29 Jan. 2025].

- ddw (2022). All on Balmain and their SS23 FW Show | DDW. [online] ddw. Available at: https://www.dontdiewondering.com/all-on-balmain-and-their-ss23-fw-show/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2025]. 

- Heller, N. (2021). Liberté, Égalité, Modernité: How Olivier Rousteing Made Balmain a Revolutionary Force in Fashion. [online] Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/article/how-olivier-rousteing-made-balmain-a-revolutionary-force-in-fashion [Accessed 29 Jan. 2025].

-istitutomarangoni (n.d.). Olivier Rousteing | Istituto Marangoni. [online] ISTITUTOMARANGONI. Available at: https://www.istitutomarangoni.com/en/im-mentors/olivier-rousteing [Accessed 29 Jan. 2025].

- Nast, C. (2021). From Drama and Music to Fashion—Balmain Is Launching a Miniseries and It’s Glamorously Gritty. [online] Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/article/balmain-fracture-miniseries [Accessed 29 Jan. 2025].

- Rousteing, O. (2017). Olivier Rousteing: ‘When you lose the love of your biological mother … you’re not scared of anything’. [online] edition.cnn.com. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/olivier-rousteing-guest-editor-launch-video/index.html [Accessed 29 Jan. 2025].

- Szabo, B. (2022). The Rebel’s Wardrobe. Berlin: gestalten