Born and raised in St Jean de Maurienne, a small Alpine village in the beautiful and remote French region of Savoy, Pierre Balmain moved to the Paris in 1933 to study architecture— but he soon left his studies behind as be began a full-time search for a way into fashion.

In 1939, after the Nazi invasion, Balmain was called up for French military service, returning to his native Savoy to form part of the Alpine defenses. After France fell, Balmain was lucky to avoid the fate that so many other young Frenchmen suffered: being sent to Germany to work as forced labor for the Nazi war machine. Instead, he returned to Paris to work for Lucien Lelong, who oversaw one of Paris’ most successful couture houses.

While at Lelong’s couture house, Balmain worked alongside another French designer, Christian Dior. Although Dior and Balmain had very different personalities and Dior was ten years older than Balmain, the two grew to become good friends and allies. In addition, Dior was a helpful, calming force, cooling tempers whenever Lelong and Balmain would have one of their many arguments. The combined Balmain-Dior talent transformed the house, as Balmain explained in his memoirs—helping to change Lelong from a house “where a woman could get a dress to one where she simply had to get a dress.”

During the occupation, whenever he was visiting his mother in Savoy, Balmain would also be sure to meet with his new friends, Alice and Gertrude, biking out to see them at their house in a small nearby village. His total dedication to the couple can be seen in the special clothing that he would create for them—with Pierre Balmain crafting the distinctive warm and comfortable tweed suits and dresses that they requested from him. Those designs—while making very clear his singular talent and skills—were of course nothing like the couture gowns that he was designing in Paris at the same time.