Olivier Rousteing - Designer, Creative Director of Balmain

[agee]

style.com​

From Balmain.com:

Olivier Rousteing has been appointed New Designer of Balmain
2011-04-26

The house of Balmain is pleased to announce the appointment of Olivier Rousteing as its new Designer. Mr. Rousteing will supervise the design and development of the brand’s men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections. Rousteing is currently in charge of the Women’s Wear design studio at Balmain, a position he has held since 2009. Before joining Balmain, Rousteing worked for five years at Roberto Cavalli, where he was promoted to the position of Designer for the women’s and men’s ready-to-wear collections. Olivier Rousteing was born in France and raised in Bordeaux. He completed his fashion studies at Paris’s École Supérieure Des Arts Et Techniques De La Mode (ESMOD) in 2003.

 

[Kallu]

He looks hot.

 

[elle_gb]

Not only his appearance but his first collection for the house is hot as well.

 

[Kite]

I have posted this before, but There wasnt an Olivier thread.

If you google him, you get this...

Its like there has only ever been one image taken of him, EVER!

and this goes on for PAGE after page after page. We shall have to wait and see the real him in October.

 

[Psylocke]

^I really wonder why that is, actually! He looks like he could have been a model before. How come no one ever had the idea to take pictures of him and put them on the internet? Don't be selfish people, share your pics of that hottie!

I must say I'm really looking forward to the Balmain S/S 12 collection. The Resort collection is already my favorite Balmain collection ever, I really think he can do wonders for Balmain. I've always liked Decarnin's aesthetics and I like how he made Balmain young and "rocker chic" but I just didn't like how everything was so over the top and I hated the whole tacky embellished shoulders / safety pins / studs galore.

 

[Izma Paris]

Balmain resort 2012 is great and very very close to Decarnin style. I mean it could have been a Christophe Decarnin collection! I was expecting something a bit different from Rousteing.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

^you have to keep in mind the consumers who shopped Balmain before.
you don't want to lose them immediately... Olivier is still using the Decarnin style
and will slowly morph Balmain into his own identity without completely getting rid of the old style

 

[Izma Paris]

For sure, it must be a super hard exercice to keep a brand aesthetic (and so its customers) but still adding you own style!
His Boot cut jeans are amazing though

 

[liberty33r1b]

his background sounds promising, that's for sureB)

 

[Kite]

Balmain resort 2012 is great and very very close to Decarnin style. I mean it could have been a Christophe Decarnin collection! I was expecting something a bit different from Rousteing.

See, I feel that the resort was so much better than ANY of the previous Decarnin collections. He was pretty Useless in my eyes, Boring, Monotonous and never took the brand anywhere, Awful ripped clothes, which were ridiculously priced.

But with the Resort, It looks like it actually is worth that amount! I likeeeeeeeey!

 

[reese06]

I like what he did with resort. Balmain has a great chance at being the "go-to" label for couture rock-n-roll fashion. And if resort is any indication of what's to come, he's going to push the look further than cut up t-shirts, etc...and add a bit more sophistication while still remaining pretty bad ***.

I will say while I'm excited to see his next collection. I'm even more excited to see HIM make his exit/bow. lol

 

[Kite]

[QUOTE
I will say while I'm excited to see his next collection. I'm even more excited to see HIM make his exit/bow. lol[/QUOTE]

I AGREE soooo much.

 

[agee]

Excerpts from style.com

More Flash Than Trash: Olivier Rousteing At Balmain
December 12, 2011 12:30 pm

...[Balmain] appointed an impossibly young, all but untested designer to take [Decarnin's] place: The then-25-year-old Frenchman Olivier Rousteing, who’d worked under Decarnin at the height of Balmain’s moment.

Rousteing, a veteran of Roberto Cavalli under Peter Dundas and Balmain under Decarnin, presented his first collection for Resort 2011 and followed it up with a well-received first show for Spring that kept the glitz and glamour but lost some of the rock ‘n’ roll trashiness that had given previous collections their edge. Critics and buyers—even those who had been Decarnin’s boosters—responded. On a recent trip to New York, Rousteing spoke with Style.com about his vision for the house, the high pressure of the industry, and why you won’t see any shredded T-shirts on his watch.
—Matthew Schneier

You joined Balmain in 2009, at a time when there was so much excitement around the label—Balmainia, as it were. What was that like?
I went there when it was Balmainia…I understood when I came to the house that it was a really small house with a really big name. But there wasn’t all the structure. It was super-interesting—there was not a lot of people. What is nice at Balmain is not only this part, the Balmainia, but even before; you have access to amazing archives. That was a good thing too with this house. It’s a really French house; it [has] old history.

Is that what you still look back to for your own collections?
When I arrived, I loved the rock ‘n’ roll sex appeal that was in the house, [and] I loved to work with Christophe, obviously. But what I learned from this house is that there is a real DNA, something from the past that I want to bring back. I want to bring the couture feeling that I tried to during the summer [for Spring 2011].

-

Tell me about the studio. I understand you have a very young team.
I tried, honestly, to keep everyone from the studio. I love everyone where I work; they all have Balmain in their heart. After [Decarnin left], many went away, [to have] new experiences, [and] I hired new people to add new energy, too. From different countries. If you come into the office, you will see, there are people from everywhere. Puerto Rico, Denmark, New York, London, French people, German…it’s a mix of cultures. I like to mix. I’m mixed [race], so…

Yes—and speaking of that, you’re one of the only designers of color at a major French house. Is it something that impacts you?
No. For me, what’s important is to show my work and what I am about to do. I’m really proud for my parents, for the education they gave to me. About the color—I don’t see my color. It’s fine. I’m happy with what I am.

If we have to speak about it, if I have to be honest, why I’m really proud is because I’m adopted. I don’t know my real parents, my biological parents. More than the color, what I think is important for me is to show that, if you don’t have a good start, you can still fight for what you love. My parents are white; I am black, or mixed. I don’t know where I’m from. But what they teach me is this, too: It’s [to] love. I love everyone.

 

[christian zh]

Balmain Homme F/W 2012 Lookbook






-four-pins.com

 

[Chanelcouture09]

I have such an issue with his vision for Balmain.

Of course he came in off the back of Christophe Decarnin - who for me, was at a certain similarity as Tom Ford at Gucci, he made the brand successful, he created a vision for that woman, he created the 'Balmain Army' - the aesthetic was slated hugely during his tenure as gaudy and overpriced. But for me his collections had more depth and commercial approach whilst still retaining integrity and excitement.

Olivier on the other hand has rode on the coat tails of that aesthetic such as the military double breasted blazer, the thigh grazing dresses with long sleeves and exaggerated shoulders and of course the biker jeans. A large proportion of his success at the house has been a copy and paste job from Christophe - my other issue is, in short, his attention seeking attitude - of course in todays generation we have a huge focus on celebrity and social media engagement but I feel he focuses too much on his presence on social media and his attention wh*re status he has gained on Instagram. Olivier has 1.2M followers on Instagram and a total of 2846 posts attributed hugely to his love of a selfie, when some established houses haven't earned themselves that many followers, which have occurred hugely to his famous friendship with the Kardashian-West clan amongst other social media darlings.

Each season his collections have many aspects of established designers aesthetics that go a certain level above inspiration, almost expensive copies - such as Alaia, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel and Hervé Leger. He's a PR Executives dream because as long as he's gaining attention to himself he'll do whatever he is told. One designer who has helmed a house for such a short period of time and has gained so much momentum - but has lost integrity for such an established house.

 

[gossiping]

has he really copied him that much? i don't know i think olivier's girl is much more polished than christophe's (i like both, tbh)

when i see him interviewed it is clear he's a nice guy, not pretentious, but his associated with that family does irritate me a lot. for that reason even if i had the money i'll not buy balmain..they degrade the brand

 

[GIVENCHYlover]

I'm a little bit bored of his collections.

As a designer is ok to be recognized. Balmain isn't a very popular brand (probably it isn't in top 10 luxury brands) but Olivier is more recognized than Nicolas or Fida. He's a brand!

 

[Lola701]

I've to admit that i really have a hard time with him as a designer. He seems to be a really cool and fun guy and i really like his commitment to the diversity in fashion but his designs...
My thing with him is the lack of "frenchness" in his designs and cut. French fashion is really about great materials, couture-like quality and a certain lightness in the cut (even with complicated clothes).
His clothes looks overdesigned.

With Decarnin, Balmain was very elitist but parisian elitist. A kind of untouchable and almost pretentious allure balanced with a cool and accessible attitude. The girls looked natural but strong. They wore those very short, detailed clothes like t-shirts. Even their dangerous destroyed t-shirts looked easy and stylish. Ok, Emmanuelle Alt was maybe the reason why they looked like that.

Now, Balmain is very into mass-elitism. A very "premier degré" version of sexy with VS models, greatest hits from late 80's-early 90's designs, Pop icons. Everything is so one dimensional but yet, it's not challenging in terms of designs or taste.

The former Balmain womenswear customer can shop at Saint Laurent but I applaud Olivier for making the brand so much about him in such a short time. He doesn't have any major moment as a designer but he maintain the attention on him and his muses. People don't care about his collections as long as the jeans and basics are in stores and the Kardashian are wearing his skin tight dresses.

But now that Peter Dundas at Cavalli is relying also on the same pop icons as Olivier, i wonder if it will help him to push his fashion further!

 

[george5]

I've to admit that i really have a hard time with him as a designer. He seems to be a really cool and fun guy and i really like his commitment to the diversity in fashion but his designs...
My thing with him is the lack of "frenchness" in his designs and cut. French fashion is really about great materials, couture-like quality and a certain lightness in the cut (even with complicated clothes).
His clothes looks overdesigned.

With Decarnin, Balmain was very elitist but parisian elitist. A kind of untouchable and almost pretentious allure balanced with a cool and accessible attitude. The girls looked natural but strong. They wore those very short, detailed clothes like t-shirts. Even their dangerous destroyed t-shirts looked easy and stylish. Ok, Emmanuelle Alt was maybe the reason why they looked like that.

Now, Balmain is very into mass-elitism. A very "premier degré" version of sexy with VS models, greatest hits from late 80's-early 90's designs, Pop icons. Everything is so one dimensional but yet, it's not challenging in terms of designs or taste.

The former Balmain womenswear customer can shop at Saint Laurent but I applaud Olivier for making the brand so much about him in such a short time. He doesn't have any major moment as a designer but he maintain the attention on him and his muses. People don't care about his collections as long as the jeans and basics are in stores and the Kardashian are wearing his skin tight dresses.

But now that Peter Dundas at Cavalli is relying also on the same pop icons as Olivier, i wonder if it will help him to push his fashion further!

Spot on. I think if we put aside the look or aesthetic, whether it’s the “Balmain Army” or “Gang girls” (which are pretty similar in the end), what made Christophe stand out was the way his clothes were crafted (decent tailoring, nice dressmaking, etc). Olivier on the other hand, is really heavy-handed; for example, those gabardine or quilted leather jackets are quite stiff and uncomfortable. The same goes for the macramé dresses.

I don’t hate Rousteing’s Balmain and his more casual approach; I think it’s pointless to have another French house doing the 50’s Couture look these days but, He could do much better.

 

[lucy92]

was olivier adopted into a wealthy family?

my guess is that a lot of this pandering to the kardashian crowd/fans is a prelude to a launch of a makeup collection that is priced at gucci/burberry makeup's priceline.