MEET THE DESIGNER: Oliver Rousteing, Creative Director of Balmain

In this week’s designer profile, we will be checking out the creative director of Balmain, Oliver Rousteing, and his evolution as a fashion designer and a creative director.

French designer Oliver Rousteing is the current creative director of Balmain and has worked as the creative director of the Italian fashion house since 2011.

Oliver Rousteing

Oliver was born in 1985 in France and was adopted by his parents at the age of 1. His mother was an optician while his father is a seaport manager. Oliver grew up in Bordeaux and moved to Paris to study at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts et Techniques de la Mode (ESMOD). However, he dropped out in his first year referencing a lack of creative freedom as the reason.

Oliver began his career at Roberto Cavalli in 2003 and was soon promoted to creative director of the label’s womenswear collection. Oliver retained the position for five years after which he joined Balmain in 2009.

Oliver and Balmain

During his early days at Balmain, Oliver worked with the then creative director of the fashion house Christophe Decarnin. In April 2011, Oliver replaced Christophe Decarnin as the creative director of Balmain. The now 25-year-old fashion designer and creative director wanted to orient Balmain towards the finer aspects of French couture. Although he liked Decarnin’s designs, he wanted to give Balmain a more french design. Oliver was a relatively unknown designer at his time of appointment but brought a fresh take to Balmain which remains in the fashion house to date.

Despite the controversial stories about his age taking over a big fashion house, Oliver helped grow Balmain and also increases the fashion house’s revenue. Oliver also opened a Balmain store in London and a stand-alone boutique outside of Paris. Oliver has collected different celebrities and also helped Balmain become the first French label to pass the million followers plateau on Instagram.

Balmain Fall Winter 2022 Collection

Oliver’s recent collection for Balmain is the Balmain fall winter 2022 which is one of the most creative ready-to-wear outfits released for the fall-winter collections. The collection made use of quality fabric and color combinations to highlight the beauty of the designs. Fur fabrics and metallic outfits are incorporated by the fashion in its fall-winter collection. Check out the collection below: