From Perfume Bottles to Bustiers, Olivier Rousteing Marries Past and Future

Beauty may have been the last major category that Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing tackled in his transformation of the storied French fashion house into one of the hottest brands in the business. But it was well worth the wait. Les Éternels de Balmain, a collection of eight fragrances produced under license by the Estée Lauder Cos., channeled both Balmain’s historic strength in fragrance and Rousteing’s lifelong love of the category. “A funny story is that when I got appointed at Balmain in 2011, my grandma told me: You remember, I was wearing Ivoire?” he told WWD earlier this year, referencing the iconic fragrance created by Pierre Balmain. Rousteing reimagined Ivoire and three other house classics for the collection, and created four entirely new fragrances. In fact, Rousteing was so invested in the concept he went to fragrance school to learn the process of perfumery, even putting shoulder pads in the traditional white coat students wear. “It was like a therapy to create the fragrances, because it’s all about traveling in your mind, dreaming, escape and finding your own peace and who you are,” said Rousteing. “He has a very distinct approach to scent making, one that is highly conceptual,” said Guillaume Jesel, president and chief executive officer of Tom Ford Beauty and luxury business development at Lauder. While distribution was tight at launch — leading specialty stores including Neiman Marcus in the U.S., Galeries Lafayette in France and Selfridges in the U.K., plus stand-alone boutiques in Paris and New York — Rousteing heralded the launch on the runway, sending out a spring collection with bustiers that referenced the bottle shape and dresses spangled with red lips and nails. Rousteing believes there is a common thread running throughout the house, which is a sense of confidence and strength. “It’s really important to build a sense of unity,” he said. “I feel it’s not going to be a new chapter only for Balmain, but it’s going to be a new book, with the beauty.”

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