Fashion Designer Week - Balmain

Balmain is a French fashion house founded in 1964 by Pierre Balmain (above). Today, the head designer is Olivier Rousteing. Balmain was born in 1914 in France. His father owned a drapery business and his mother and sister owned a fashion boutique where he often worked after his father's death in 1921. Pierre, even as a young boy, always had a love of fashion and a passion for creating beautiful things. He attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts School in 1933-1934 with the intent to study architecture but ended up spending most of his time designing dresses. In the late 1930's, Balmain served in the French air force and the army pioneer corps. After peace was declared, he worked at Lucien Lelong and opened his own fashion house under his name and his first collection was released in 1945. While at Lelong, he met designer Christian Dior who would later play a huge role in Balmain's career.

In the period after World War Two, he was a "king of French fashion" and dressed stars such as Ava Gardner and Brigitte Bardot. During the war resources worldwide were heavily rationed and an overall sacrifice was made in order to supply the war overseas. Because of the lack of resources, fashion took the form of simple silhouettes that would use the least amount of fabric. Women were encouraged to not wear stocking and some even used charcoal to draw lines on their legs in an attempt to mimic the style of their stockings. After the war, fabrics were no longer being rationed and designers were encouraged to bring glamour back to their designs.

During this era, Christian Dior coined a silhouette which he named 'The New Look'. The style was characterized by full skirts, nipped-in waistlines and full shoulders. The bodices were structured to create the illusion of a perfectly proportioned woman. Balmain was among the designers to adapt this look into their own aesthetic.

The most influential designer to take over the house of Balmain after Pierre's death in 1982, was designer Oscar de la Renta, who led the house between 1993 and 2002. Since then, there has been a number of designers coming and going but the latest head designer of Balmain is the young and talented Olivier Rousteing who was previously not very well known until Balmain. Rousteing was credited with adding an Asian influence to the clothing, as Asia comprises a huge part of the brand's buyers. In 2015, H&M announced a collaboration with Balmain, making the brand the 11th guest-designer collaboration with H&M.

Olivier Rousteing (above) was born in France in 1986. In 2003, he began his fashion career as a designer at Roberto Cavalli and became the head of the women's division. He then took over as head designer of Balmain in 2011.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Balmain, 2014; alongside designer Olivier Rousteing

Zoe Saldana in Balmain, 2013

Zoe Saldana in Balmain, 2011

Beyonce in Balmain, 2012

Kim Kardashian in Balmain, 2015

Leighton Meester in Balmain, 2011

Kate Bosworth in Balmain, 2013

Ciara in Balmain, 2010

Lily Collins in Balmain, 2012

Joan Smalls in Balmain, 2014

Taylor Swift in Balmain, 2015

Scarlett Johansson in Balmain, 2015

Those were just a few of my favorite celebrity Balmain looks and below are 6 of my favorites from Balmain's Spring 2015 Collection:

That concludes today's post! Check back tomorrow for the last day of Fashion Designer Week because tomorrow will be all about Alexander Wang. :)

-Haley