God knows how Olivier Rousteing does it. Two weeks ago, he touched down in Los Angeles for less than 24 hours for the Puma x Balmain party with Cara Delevingne; now he’s already deep into pre-fall. “All I need is a little L.A. sun to recharge my batteries,” he said during a showroom tour of meaty red tweeds and next year’s Pantone classic blue, baroquely embroidered tartans, and multiple iterations of paisley—in print, dévoré velvet, gold sequins, and, of course, lashings of crystal. And it wasn’t just about the clothes: the crystal tiger-striped boots, rhinestone-etched satin mules, and sparkly evening bag/backpacks are statement pieces all on their own.
Although (or because) Rousteing barely knew the ’80s, that era provides a never-ending wellspring of inspiration in all its padded-shouldered, glittery, maximalist excess. But he also lifted several cues directly from the Balmain playbook of the ’50s and ’60s. Logical enough, since next year marks the house’s 75th anniversary. Paisley, for example, was one of Mr. Balmain’s favorite motifs, and Rousteing gamely yanked it into the present on ethereal long dresses with wide, gathered waists, on a fully embroidered bodycon dress in Pop colors, and winningly on a dévoré blouse paired with ultra-high-waisted flared trousers. “Paisley may be about French-granny nostalgia, but it’s all in how you use it,” the designer said, calling the richness of the house archives his “Proustian madeleine.” He may dress Kim, Rihanna, and Beyoncé (the deep-V party dress with a pink skirt was designed with her in mind), but Rousteing speaks of Balmain as an old soul. People forget, he noted, how rule-breaking icons like Brigitte Bardot, a Balmain loyalist, were in their heyday. “Understanding the future is all about looking to the past,” he pointed out, not for the first time.
Meanwhile, for a present whose seasons are out of whack, Rousteing made a broad case for trans-seasonal dressing, sweeping from a mint lace blouse with a charmeuse jabot and trailing sleeves to crisp houndstooth suiting, a tweed-tartan bomber, and dramatic capes, one of them a reiteration in leather of the house’s hit B Bag. While hewing to house codes—a pullover means tulle with crystal, beads, and sequins, for example—the overall feel was gentler, more romantic, and not quite as bodycon, but without going so far as to alienate a base that likes dressing short and tight. “We’ve shed the armor,” Rousteing allowed. All things being relative, of course: there were plenty of shapely bodysuits and sweater dresses—criss-crossed with panthers—to keep his ladies happy.
Rousteing fused his own sensibility with some of Pierre Balmain’s signature cuts, for example, bringing his strong shoulders to the Jolie Madame jacket from 1956, a nip-waisted number now revisited in an archival black fabric with lustrous leopard spots. Or by integrating a hoodie into a bourgeois quilted jacket, or delivering a pared-down halter-neck tuxedo gown. Elsewhere, he offered up classic Parisian staples—a purple lavalliere blouse, navy peacoat, or a greatcoat with gold buttons—priced, like his recent men’s capsule, to reach a new clientele.
Speaking of new territory, Rousteing is one designer who eschews real fur in favor of faux, seen here on a denim jacket. Now, he says he is working on “real awareness,” brushing up and staffing up to align his designs with clean materials and sustainable production. “That’s not a trend,” he said. “It’s the real world, and once you change your mind, there’s no going back. It’s way beyond clothes.”
