Balmain: French Haute Couture & Prêt-à-Porter

Balmain or Pierre Balmain S.A. is a fashion company founded in 1945 by the French fashion designer Pierre Balmain and based in Paris. Particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, the Balmain company, which has also been offering perfume since 1947, was one of the leading international fashion companies in the upmarket Parisian fashion scene with elegant haute couture for women alongside Dior and Jacques Fath. After the sale of the company by Pierre Balmain in 1977 and less successful times from the 1980s onwards, Balmain was owned by a French investor group since 1995 and was on the verge of insolvency in 2004. It was only in 2006 that Balmain, which has been producing high-priced prêt-à-porter fashion for women since 1982 and, with interruptions, for men since 1986, regained its reputation worldwide as a trendsetting and sought-after fashion brand in the upper price segment. Balmain’s haute couture fashion was presented for the last time in 2003 and was discontinued in 2004 as part of the restructuring. Since June 2016 the company has been owned by the investment fund Mayhoola for Investments from Qatar.

Women’s collections that redefine femininity

Balmain’s rich couture history is celebrated in every women’s collection under the direction of Olivier Rousteing. The archive, filled with unique designs, inspires, while the studio continues to inspire awe with its mastery of intricate couture techniques. Rousteing fuses these traditions with his own modern sensibility.

Fashion for the emancipated woman of modernity

For this women’s collection BALMAINFW20, creative director Olivier Rousteing rethinks and modernises the traditional symbols of the old French upper class to adapt them to today’s modernity – a range of designs now open to all, reflecting the inclusive values of Balmain today. Watch the video here.

Innovative cuts and artistic colour combinations

“Own who you are” is the motto of the women’s collection 2020, inspired by Rousteing’s own past. As the documentary film about the collection shows, he only recently found out that his biological parents are Somali and Ethiopian. His handling of this existential insight and his experience with adoption and rejection can also be artistically reflected in this collection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQLs4viUyIY

Rebellious collection full of studs, glitter and leather

The outfits focus on sculptural shapes, skilful leatherwork and extreme ornamentation. Rousteing is proud of the efforts of his entire team as they have ensured that this year’s Balmain creations are in keeping with the daring of today’s troublemakers. Check out Balmain’s breathtaking fashion show here.

Futuristic dresses and statement accessories for the summer

It’s not the catwalk styling, music and celebrities that make Parisian fashion so incredibly inspiring – they believe it’s their unparalleled heritage of couture and high standards of tailoring that make them stand out. Of course, these unique ingredients are key elements of Balmains’ DNA, and today’s collection makes it clear what the combination of savoir-faire and the Parisian studio can achieve.

Cultured & sophisticated fashion for the Balmain man

Olivier Rousteing was just 25 years old when he was appointed creative director in 2011. In just a few years, he has rejuvenated the historic house of Balmain and given it an immediately recognisable style. Many of his designs for designer men’s clothing are based on what he wears every day, with the certainty that he pays great attention to detail.

Tropical desert feeling on the runway in Paris

See here the Balmains fashion show, which took place on 17 January 2020 in the Grande Halle de la Vilette in Paris. The show marks the debut of Balmain Eye Wear by Akoni. The unisex collection is based on the savoir-faire of the world’s best Japanese artisans and is available since April 2020.

Insurgent clothing with lots of black

These thousands of studs on the eye-catching oversized black bouclé blazer or on the pagoda skirts with origami texture are meant to make a statement for Balmain. Biker vests with open shoulders, paperboy caps, bags and pointed boots are also often seen on the catwalk. Check out the entire fashion show here.

Progressive fashion with avant-garde flair

The entire event, which took place in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, was dedicated to support for aid organisations against AIDS. The fashion was typically Balmain: Loud, sparkly, confident. Cool colours were often to be found on the catwalk. What made this fashion show special: an extra laser show.

A fashion show inspired by the military

Many of the men and women who march across the runway today are dressed in designs based on protective armour from every age – from the medieval chain mail shirt and today’s military khaki to futuristic leather and nylon stockings. “Fashion is a revolution, not an evolution,” is the appropriate statement.

Famous advertising faces & Exquisite accessories

Balmain outshines the other luxury brands with its numerous, individual and always amazing modern and unique commercials. Using advanced techniques and numerous experiments, Balmain creates incredible videos. Even though it is difficult to shoot an unplanned commercial, the Balmain team always manages to fascinate its Balmain Army.

Cara Delevingne as advertising face in London

Balmain’s Spring/Summer 2019 campaign with Cara Delevingne takes to the streets during London Fashion Week, delighting thousands.

The perfect accessory: the Balmain bag

This new collection is inspired by what is on offer on the catwalks, picking up on some of Olivier Rousteing’s most famous signatures. Thick fringes, quilted leather and impressive embellishments are also typical of the new collection. To ensure that the models also look good on the catwalk, Creative Director Rousteing has teamed up with some of Italy’s most famous leather masters to match the bags’ colour palette to the latest outfits in the current collection.

Chanel – Timelessly elegant fashion in the name of female emancipation

Today’s fashion giant was brought to life in 1913 by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. At the age of 30, the Frenchwoman, who was born from a poor background, opened her first Chanel boutique in Deauville, France. Her wide dresses and rather comfortable cuts met with both rejection and applause at first. Her simple yet elegant designs were untypical of the 1910s fashion. The famous ‘Little Black’ later helped the style icon to international success. Since its breakthrough, the brand has also been celebrated for its quilted leather handbags with quilted seams and metal link chains. The Chanel No. 5 perfume is also one of the absolute must-haves for every Chanel fan.

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Glamorous and bold fashion for winter

The winter outfits always have leather boots with high heels despite wind and weather. Likewise, the elaborate hairstyles are dispensed with in winter. In contrast to the hairstyles in summer, here the hair is tied together only to a simple braid or simply combed open back.

Elegant dresses and classic accessories

For Virginie Viard, the mirror staircase is the starting point for every collection. Over the past 30 years, explains Chanel, it has always been Virginie Viard who has worked closely with the Métiers d’Art Ateliers, researching and experimenting with them. She opens her first Métiers d’Art collection as successor to Karl Lagerfeld with black coats made of soft cashmere bouclé, decorated with chiffon ribbons embroidered with gold-coloured pearls and sequins.

Autumnal collection with cool tones and casual cuts

In the style of the 1968 film “The Does” by French director Claude Chabrol, female models walked together across the catwalk and chatted like confidants at first glance. The models wore stylish black leather boots in a retro look, with a bell-shaped brandy collar in the middle of the calf, which became the leitmotif of the collection.

Exciting and innovative outfits in a quiet environment

For her haute couture debut, Virginie Viard chose the backdrop of a library. The library was inspired by the library in Gabrielle Chanel’s daytime apartment on Rue Cambon (the legendary designer slept in the Ritz next door) with its chic bindings in gorgeous chestnut colours and by Galignani, the legendary bookshop on Rue de Rivoli, which counted bibliophile Karl Lagerfeld among its most important customers.

Emotional show in memory of Karl Lagerfeld

In a gloomy yet cheerful show, in which airiness and substance, shrugging elegance and unbridled joy were captured, the farewell to the tremendous talent of Karl Lagerfeld was framed just as he had imagined. He led us on a beautiful day to a place high in the mountains. It was a snow-covered refuge – a piece of the Chanel sky, seen from a distance that was touchingly difficult to bear.

Delicate dresses and stylish hairstyles for the summer

One thing is particularly striking in the summer collections. The collections for the warmer seasons usually include dresses rather than trousers or skirts. As described above, the models’ hair is often more elaborately draped, gelled or sprayed in summer.

Unique prêt-à-porter on the roofs of Paris

Up on the roof chez Chanel, a procession of long-legged girls on flat heels, appearing in tweed playsuits, tiny silk trousers, garçonne dresses and small bell-shaped skirts. Where Lagerfeld may have worn funny pun accessories, it was Richard’s instinct to undress and emphasize the essence of the silhouette and tweed Chanel textures in a related context – who could dare to imitate his wit, after all?

Haute couture collection of contrasts: Moral & Sensual at the same time

Virginie Viard’s haute couture presentation Chanel saw us in the romantic garden of a monastery, miraculously located in the cold immensity of the Paris Grand Palais. In imaginative retellings of her autobiography, Chanel described the strict and unforgiving nuns of the convent as “aunts”. Nevertheless, these teachers taught the young Chanel how to sew and thus gave her the tools to build a life as an independent woman in later years.

Exclusive fashion show with breathtaking scenery

The collection was presented downstairs in the large, up-and-coming room of the Grand Palais. Although there were train tracks here, there was no train, because who could outshine the steaming trains of John Galliano’s sensational haute couture show for Christian Dior in autumn 1998. Instead, Viard transformed the vast space of the Grand Palais into a train platform, the audience sits expectantly on old-fashioned benches, and the building’s existing Art Nouveau architecture is successfuly reminiscent of a station for giants from the turn of the century.

Chanel’s first swimsuit makes its debut in a royal garden

Outside the Grand Palais at sub-zero temperatures in Paris it may have snowed, but inside Karl Lagerfeld took us to a sunburned Italian villa where terracotta oleander urns flanked an inviting pool and cypress and palm trees shaded sandy paths, stone balustrades and a curved staircase.

The ‘Making of’ Chanel – From studio to catwalk

Especially Chanel is known to take his audience behind the scenes on YouTube. No matter if it’s preparations for the Fashion Week, the hectic rush in the backstage area just before the show starts or the making of the latest collections. There are also image films created by Karl Lagerfeld or films that tell the story of Coco or Chanel. With elaborate and emotional stylistic devices, short videos in blockbuster quality are created here.

Creative design process with finest handcraft

Virginie Viard’s Autumn-Winter 2019/20 collection shows the ever renewed creativity and unique savoir-faire of Chanel’s haute couture studios and métiers d’art. See how the house of Chanel and its seamstresses make the handmade garments.

Hectic in the last minutes before the show

From backstage to show, a closer look at the ready-to-wear looks and accessories for spring and summer 2020.