Artisanal Savoir-Faire
ATELIERS AND ARTISANS
Balmain sets itself apart by pairing its commitment to change and progress with a deep respect for its couture heritage and Parisian savoir-faire.
Balmain maintains its modern outlook while deftly building upon the powerful possibilities of celebrating an impressive heritage and relying on Paris’ unmatched artisanal savoir-faire. The result of that distinctive mix? Collection after collection filled with beautiful embellishments, impressive craftsmanship and remarkable details.
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THE PERFECT FINAL EMBELLISHMENT
Before founding his own house, Pierre Balmain worked in some of Paris’ greatest pre-war couture houses, learning from two master couturiers of the early twentieth century: Lucien Lelong and Edward Molyneux. They distilled in Balmain a deep respect for the power of great construction and precise tailoring, as well as an understanding of the importance of always working closely with the finest artisans to perfect a couture design’s final embellishments.
THE FABERGE COLLECTION (FEBRUARY 2012)
Inspired an ornate Fabergé egg that Richard Burton once gave Elizabeth Taylor, Olivier Rousteing’s second collection for Balmain very much relied on the expertise of the house artisans, who skillfully wove crystals, pearls and golden threads together to create one-of-a-kind intricate patterns and florals. Rousteing’s runway made it clear that Balmain’s Paris ateliers were the perfect tool for translating Faberge’s art into clothing.
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CRACKING THE CODES (FEBRUARY 2020)
For this collection, Olivier Rousteing cleverly subverts codes of an upper-class world that was once beyond his reach, adapting symbols of exclusion and twisting them to turn the focus on the beauty of an inclusive, no-longer closed-off world. To do that, Rousteing modernized classic styles and patterns, including age-old silk-scarf motifs, which were impressively converted into 3D embellishments, thanks to the remarkable embroidery skills of the Balmain atelier.
BALMAIN PRE-FALL 2023
For this offering, Olivier Rousteing and his team were inspired by some of Monsieur Balmain’s strongest designs from the ‘60s and ‘70s. In particular, they decided to riff on Monsieur Balmain’s love of brooches, bows and embroidery, exaggerating those embellishments up to the point where the adornments sometimes actually transformed into the eye-catching main focus of designs. The skills of the Balmain atelier are, clearly, evident throughout.
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BALMAIN RESORT 2023
Returning to the land of the Pharaohs for his second Egyptianthemed collection, Olivier Rousteing relied on the impressive finesse of the Balmain artisans for sleek and sensual, perfectly tailored, woven, pleated and draped designs. These were wonderfully complemented by intense Egyptian blues, shining golden tones, scarab-inspired iridescents and many ornate plays on animal patterns, serpents and plumage.
A WEAVING FINESSE
After returning from a trip to Miami, Olivier Rousteing built his Spring 2013 collection around a Latin theme, riffing on elements of Cuban culture, building upon a black-and-white palette that referenced tile floors and directing the Balmain artisans to rely on basket-woven raffia to form incredibly intricate, eye-catching patterns that echoed the Baroque motifs of traditional Caribbean wicker chairs.
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SCULPTING NATURE
Ten years after his Cuban-inspired collection, Olivier Rousteing returned to the beauty of raffia for Spring 2023, but this time, he directed the Balmain atelier to treat the fiber in an entirely different way. Rousteing and his artisans constructed some particularly sculptural pieces from an extraordinary amount of natural raffia, jute cord and twigs—all stitched, assembled and shaped into incredible curving volumes by the house’s talented team of craftsmen.
A SURPRISING GREEN COUTURE
For Spring 2023’s earth-friendly couture designs, no trees were harvested to create the striking natural pieces—instead sourcing teams were sent into forests to gather the perfect bark, branches and twigs. Artisans transformed these into a one-of-a-kind bustier and gown designs. Striking basketweaves were created from pieces harvested from meadows, bogs and forests, sorted by colors and softened in water before being woven and sculpted directly atop the house model.
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PIERRE BALMAIN’S IMPRESSIVE FABRIC MANIPULATIONS
Pierre Balmain’s mastery in draping and pleating was a key ingredient of his legendary “New French Style”—and one can clearly see Balmain’s architectural training in the volumes he created. The Balmain archive’s vast collection of past designs, sketches and fashion-magazine editorials provides a constant inspiration to Olivier Rousteing and his team, as they build upon the founder ’s legacy of remarkable fabric manipulations.
A MODERN FABRIC MASTERY
The closer one examines the house’s most recent creations, the more the level of the atelier’s expert handwork impresses. The celebrated savoir-faire of Balmain’s craftsmen can be recognized in the multitude of additional artisanal touches in each of Olivier Rousteing’s collections— including the superb and throughly modern pleating that sets apart Rousteing’s couture and ready-towear designs.
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WEAVING, LACING AND KNOTTING
Bringing traditional Parisian couture’s love of int r i cate weaving and meticulous corset lacing to a whole new and very modern level, Olivier Rousteing often directs his atelier team to use weaving, braiding, knotting and lacing techniques on a wide variety of luxury fabrics, in order to create the unmi stakable, sensual Balmain silhouette.
ARTISANAL AND EMOTIONAL
Balmain Spring 2022 was probably Olivier Rousteing’s most personal offering. While recovering from a painful accident, Rousteing found inspiration in his bandages and gauze wrappings, and decided to build his collection upon the themes of recovery and renewal. The Balmain artisans helped him to translate those themes and references for the runway, relying on remarkable weaving, ruching and quilting techniques for the collection’s many bands, weaves and dangling straps.
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COUTURE BRAIDING AND MACRAME
When examined closely, the complicated macramé and braiding patterns that were created for Beyoncé and Olivier Rousteing’s joint Renaissance Couture Collection are stunning. Due to their fascinating complexity, they took several days for the talented artists and teams of craftsmen to complete.
LEATHER MOLDING
The bold first look of the Balmain Fall 2020 runway made very clear the unmatched expertise of the house’s artisans in creating spectacular leather molding. That opening ensemble inspired Zendaya, who reached out to Olivier Rousteing to create a one-of-akind dress, based on that runway leather molding, for her red-carpet moment during 2021’s Mostra de Venise film festival.
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CRAFTING AN UNFORGETTABLE RED-CARPET MOMENT
To create Zendaya’s impressive gown for the Venice Film Festival, Olivier Rousteing and the Balmain craftsman worked for several weeks through many stages: first came the creation of a plaster mold, created directly upon of Zendaya in Los Angeles. That base was then molded in natural leather, which was covered with a camel-colored lambskin drape. Finally, a special couture skirt was designed to join to the bustier, to form one single piece. To perfect each and every element, several fittings followed, in California and, finally, in Venice.
From The Balmain Atelier
Olivier Rousteing adds the finishing touches to the bespoke leather gown that he and the artisans created for Zendaya’s red-carpet moment at the Venice Film Festival.
METALLIC MASTERY
Not content to simply rely on precious metals for adornments, Olivier Rousteing works closely with the Balmain craftsmen to create his runways’ many shimmering metallic moments.
POWERFUL PLUMAGE
For Beyoncé and Olivier Rousteing’s joint Renaissance Couture collection, the two co-designers relied on Paris’ most talented artisans to add impressive feather embellishments to several of the couture designs.
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TRADITIONAL COUTURE WITH BOLD UNEXPECTED TWISTS
The Renaissance Collection constantly surprises, as Beyoncé and Olivier Rousteing were intent on pushing the boundaries of couture—incorporating the surprising and astonishing materials, finishes and treatments that best reflected the audacious spirit of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” album.
Timelessness
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