Just weeks ago, we noted that social media was Olivier Rousteing’s runway. So too, it turns out, is the Seine. On Sunday, using the hashtag #BalmainSurSeine he made the whole river his stage.
Early that evening, the Balmain crew boarded a barge to travel from the Eiffel Tower eastward, stopping for a performance—featuring the French pop singer Yseult, 50 dancers, and choreography by Jean-Charles Jousni—beside the Pont des Arts footbridge before looping around the Île Saint Louis and gliding back to the Iron Lady and home base.
The two-hour extravaganza was set to livestream on TikTok, marking a first for Balmain and for the video platform, which had never before worked with a luxury brand. It was a brilliant idea.
Incredibly, the weather held up. Unfortunately, the tech did not. Amid a cascade of political trolling, the sound dropped and, minutes after embarking, the live feed cut out never to return. By that time, Balmain had racked up about 15,000 new followers on the platform. That’s a win, of sorts. (Editor's note: Balmain’s PR explained that the TikTok stream was scheduled for just 20 minutes.)
During a conversation about the event earlier today, Rousteing sounded sanguine about the episode.
“What happened on Sunday was beyond the digital Fashion Week,” he said, estimating at 20,000 the number of locals who caught at least some part of the spectacle.
“After 75 years, Balmain is showing a new direction. We gave people access to our house, and we showed that we are really French. It was our gift to Paris, the City of Light.” (In the meantime, the show will re-stream on the Federation de la Haute Couture’s online platform this Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Paris time).
So what those who were strolling by the river early on a summer evening could glimpse was a fashion show for all, in the spirit of inclusivity Rousteing often evokes. Many will have spotted models Cindy Bruna, Feuza, and Joséphine Le Tutour. They certainly would have clocked those oversized chain belts and many covetable looks, whether current pieces reworked with couture craftsmanship or others making a rare outing from the house’s archives.
The latter included 13 pieces by the founding couturier and his successors Eric Mortensen and Oscar de la Renta, plus as many from Rousteing’s first decade at the house. One highlight was a raffia number from spring 2013 that the designer says pushed the petites mains’ expertise to the extreme. From the current Balmain collection, a black tailored jacket with white trim captured ’90s-inflected elegance.
In his show notes, Rousteing referenced Joni Mitchell’s line from her 1970 hit “Big Yellow Taxi”: “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,” and wrote heartfeltly about the need for friends, solidarity, community, and hope for a better future. He also expressed a longing to return to real-life presentations.
“It’s really hard to just do digital without any physical experience; we are all missing it,” he offered. “We work for an audience, and you lose the emotion if you don’t have one. We need to go back to that.”
Even so, and despite the glitch, Rousteing probably just shared a glimpse of the future. Where he goes, others will surely follow.
