Balmain dares to disco at Paris Fashion Week

It’s a bold time to launch a collection of disco-destined dresses and serious suiting, but then Balmain’s super talented 35-year-old creative director Olivier Rousteing is nothing if not daring.

Inspired by Pierre Balmain’s earliest postwar designs, Rousteing’s SS21 collection celebrated the house’s 75th anniversary with a feisty, optimistic collection of fierce suiting, vivid fluorescent tones and crystalline dresses unveiled in a mega show at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris last night.

Two million Swarovski crystals had been hand sewn onto stellar, slinky party dresses that models wore barefoot, suggesting a sparkle-at-home ease.

The founder’s original PB pattern-first introduced 50 years ago-was updated as a strong black and white graphic print, splashed across six mid-century tailoring designs Rousteing had pulled from the brand archives.

A new suiting silhouette - worn by Rousteing himself who, unusually for a designer, took a seat mid-runway – came with strong pagoda shoulders (a house signature) topping elongated jackets and long, lean flares. While party pieces took the limelight, lockdown looks were evident in excellent knitwear and a tailored jacket paired with biker shorts.

Tech was embraced via large LED screens that dominated the first three rows of seating, each beaming the face of a famous fashion editor who’d been dialled in to watch.

The Instagram live stream of the show had one-click shopping functionality embedded and Rousteing also launched a curated music platform on Apple Music directly post-show in a first for both brands.

With revenues in the region of €200 million in 2019 and over 10 million followers on Instagram (Rousteing personally has 6.2m), Balmain is a label that, as Rousteing notes, “has audacity and optimism built into its DNA.” Will we be coaxed into lime green suiting and Swarovski slip dresses come spring? If anyone can tempt us, it’s him.

Watch the runway show here

Read more

Balmain's Olivier Rousteing on his plans for world domination