Olivier Rousteing with models, including Cara Delevingne, after Balmain?s SS19 show at the H么tel de Ville in Paris
The French label Balmain, known for its 1950s couture, has been turned into a leader of the 21st-century pack by its creative director Olivier Rousteing. Harriet Quick meets him at his lair in Paris to discuss glamour, music and diversity
?Glamour never went away but right now we don?t like to like glamour ? it?s something taboo, a guilty pleasure. It is easier to say a grey oversized coat is chic and beautiful,? says Olivier Rousteing. Over the past eight years as creative director of Balmain, Rousteing has started a brilliant new chapter in Parisian glamour with his continual reinvention of the fashion lexicon, with his signature ballast-shouldered d-b blazers, crazy beautiful embellishments, and architectural silhouettes conceived for megawatt impact. There are many neutral, minimalist suits and swishy pliss茅 skirts designed for 2019. He?s the master of unapologetic va-va-voom, the kind that is rewarded with fire-flame emojis on Instagram, the kind that speaks of female empowerment, dynamism and a knock ?em-out fighting spirit, a message that the brand spreads far and wide. Follow LUX on Instagram: the.official.lux.magazine
Balmain?s spring/summer 2019 collection, staged late last year under the frescoed ceilings of the H么tel de Ville in Paris, was a paean to the extraordinary depth and breadth of culture in the capital, to Rousteing?s own exploration of ...