BALMAIN - FROM PARIS
TO THE WORLD
Di sản “tín ngưỡng” của giới thời trang chứa đựng tinh hoa văn hoá Pháp và đỉnh cao Haute Couture.
“Dressmaking is the architecture of movement” – Pierre Balmain
THE BIRTH OF A NEW FRENCH STYLE
Balmain was founded in 1945 by Pierre Balmain. From the outset, Monsieur Balmain’s boldly feminine and opulent signature style offered a startling contrast to the utilitarian looks of the day, creating a distinctive, super-feminine DNA for the house, which relied on richly embroidered fabrics, nipped-in waists, and longer, often fuller skirts – and quickly transforming the Parisian house into a favorite of both European and Hollywood royalty.
He dressed all the great European and American stars of his day – Including Dietrich, Leigh, Bardot, both Hepburns and, perhaps most famously, Sophia Loren.
When we look at Pierre Balmain’s Jolie Madame style and spirit – the impressive cuts, colors, materials, and spirit of our founder – it’s very easy to see how he pushed fashion in new directions to reflect a new mindset.
Pierre Balmain’s distinctive contribution to postwar fashion was, therefore, a true reflection of the empowering spirit of that new age, when women were suddenly allowed to envision new possibilities and enter into new positions.
OLIVIER ROUSTEING & THE BALMAIN ARMY
Just twenty-five years old when he was named Creative Director in 2011, Olivier Rousteing has successfully grafted an immediately recognizable style upon Balmain.
While relying on the house’s rich archives for inspiration and fully utilizing the atelier’s impressive mastery of intricate, traditional couture techniques, Rousteing has also managed to impose a singular silhouette and contemporary outlook that reflect the way that members of the “Balmain Army” – the young men and women of the designer’s own generation – live their lives.
Season after season, runways highlight both the exciting, inclusive diversity of the modern Balmain universe and the importance of 21st-Century culture – particularly today’s music – in that universe.
Olivier Rousteing and Beyoncé in RENAISSANCE COUTURE COLLCETION 2023.
MONOGRAM BALMAIN 1945
Inspired by the intriguing pathways weaving through the mazes of France’s most beautiful Renaissance gardens, Pierre Balmain’s mesmerizing labyrinth pattern was first introduced over fifty years ago. The house relied on the chameleon-like motif used to cover a host of the house’s most popular men’s, women’s, and accessories offerings in the early seventies. Of course, the labyrinth’s repeating “B” references the house and its founder, while the interlocking “P” evokes both Pierre and Paris, the city that has been so closely intertwined with the house’s history and creations. Olivier Rousteing revamped and reintroduced this distinctive pattern in 2020-2021 aligning it with his own love for strong graphic patterns while making clear once again the rich inspiration the house’s extensive archives hold for Rousteing and his design teams.
The BALMAIN BALMAIN HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTION SUMMER 1971 (above) and monogram is reproduced in the 2019 Campaign (below) from a 1971 hand sketch by late designer Pierre BALMAIN.
BALMAIN monogram in Spring Summer 2021 Runway Collection.
BALMAIN’S CODES
Daring, eye-catching, sensual, and always empowering, Balmain designs are unmistakable-even from a distance, few have a problem ID’ing a Balmain. Balmain’s powerful lines are a clear signature of the house. Gold is a key color for each Balmain collection. The bold placement of six buttons on the front of the house’s blazers and coats is one of the Balmain’s most recognizable signatures. And, as anyone who has ever slipped on one of those famous six-button jackets can attest, the Balmain atelier’s flawless tailoring injects a sort of magic, confidence-boosting power directly into those blazers. With its strong shoulders, nipped-in waist, and perfect tailoring, it manages to immediately pull together any ensemble.
“This new B, echoing some of Pierre Balmain’s mid-century monogram designs, works well for patterns and adornments for the house’s many collections,” says Rousteing,THE BALMAIN Monogram today’s unique Balmain house symbol echoes some of Pierre Balmain’s mid-century monogram designs, and it is often a key ingredient, for both patterns and adornments, of the house’s many collections
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