After sixteen years—fourteen as artistic director—Olivier Rousteing is saying goodbye to Balmain, bringing a unprecedented period of recent French glamour to an in depth.
The Maison confirmed the designer’s departure on Wednesday, November 5, marking the top of one of many longest artistic tenures in modern vogue.
“I’m deeply happy with all that I’ve achieved, and profoundly grateful to my distinctive crew at Balmain, my chosen household, in a spot that has been my dwelling for the previous 14 years,” Rousteing said in a press release. His phrases seize the emotional weight of a partnership that has been each commercially triumphant and culturally defining.
Born in Bordeaux in 1985, Rousteing studied at Ecole Supérieure des Arts et Methods de la Mode earlier than slicing his tooth at Roberto Cavalli. He joined Balmain in 2009 underneath Christophe Decarnin and, in 2011, at simply 24, turned one of many youngest designers to steer a serious Parisian vogue home. He additionally made historical past as the primary Black designer to helm a French luxurious label—a milestone that may ripple by an trade nonetheless grappling with illustration.
Rousteing’s Balmain was by no means quiet. His unapologetically daring collections, saturated with embellishment, construction and sparkle, redefined the Home’s identification for a brand new era. Beneath his watch, income reportedly grew tenfold, and Balmain’s star-studded muses—from Beyoncé and Rihanna to Cher and Kim Kardashian—propelled the model firmly into the pop-culture stratosphere. The 2015 H&M collaboration, which bought out inside hours, stays one of many excessive road’s most coveted crossovers.
But Rousteing’s legacy extends past sequins and movie star. He expanded Balmain into magnificence and perfume with Estée Lauder, reintroduced couture, and used his platform to talk vulnerably about resilience and identification within the face of adversities.
Now 40, Rousteing leaves Balmain remodeled from a heritage label to a cultural powerhouse. The query, in fact, is what comes subsequent…
