Balmain (French: [balm??]) is a French luxury fashion house that was founded by Pierre Balmain in 1946. In 2016 Mayhoola Investments, an investment fund backed by the emir of Qatar, acquired Balmain for a figure reported as close to EUR500 million ($548 million). Balmain was 70 percent controlled by heirs of Alain Hivelin Balmain does not regularly release financial information, but Les Echos estimated its revenue in 2015 at EUR120 million (about $136 million), growing from an estimated EUR30 million (about $34 million) in 2012. Balmain expected to reach a revenue of EUR150 million in 2017, 90% of which is generated by the wholesale channel, and is also putting more effort into direct retail.
It currently operates 16 monobrand stores, including the one recently inaugurated in Los Angeles, and plans to open another thirty or so in the next 4 to 5 years. Next on the list are notably a store in Milan's via Montenapoleone in April 2018 and another in Miami the following November.
Video Balmain (fashion house)
History
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. He attended the École des Beaux-Arts in 1933-1934 with intent to study architecture but instead ended up spending the majority of his time designing dresses. After working for atelier Robert Piquet as a freelance artist and spending time with Edward Molyneux, he left school to work for Molyneux. In the late 1930s, he 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 at 44, rue François 1er in Paris. He released his first collection in October 1945 and his first fragrance, Jolie Madame in 1949.
In the period following World War II, Pierre Balmain was "a king of French fashion" and outfitted stars including Ava Gardner and Brigitte Bardot, the Nicaraguan first lady Hope Portocarrero, and Queen Sirikit of Thailand.
Maps Balmain (fashion house)
Successors
After Balmain's death in 1982, the house was led by Erik Mortensen, described by Vogue as "Pierre Balmain's right hand". Mortensen had joined the house to work as Balmain's assistant in 1951. After succeeding Balmain, Mortensen worked to maintain the brand aesthetic in the ever-living world of couture while still maintaining the progressive spirit of creativity in the fashion industry. He won two Golden Thimble awards, one for his Autumn/Winter collection of 83/84 and one for the Autumn/Winter collection of 87/88. He left the house in 1990. After his departure, designer Hervé Pierre took over until 1992 working as director of ready-to-wear and haute couture.
Possibly the most influential designer to take over at Balmain was Oscar de la Renta, who led the house between 1993 and 2002. Already a fashion veteran before joining Balmain, De la Renta brought a famous face to the brand Balmain. He lived in New York City most of his life, although he was born in the Dominican Republic and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1971. He fit into the Balmain design aesthetic, with an eye for detail and classic silhouettes. He, like Balmain, preferred modest and simple design rather than extremely ornamental and flashy styles. Couture had been suffering at the time since it was an extremely impractical business, so Oscar joined the brand in order to challenge himself and to help it through the beginning of the decline of couture.
After Oscar de la Renta's departure Christophe Decarnin joined the house in 2005. Contrary to all the designers before him, Decarnin insisted on bringing the brand into the 21st century. He favored insanely expensive prices and flashy pieces that sharply contrasted with the label's reputation for its classic and luxurious designs. He was considered a "star designer", and the brand became more about his star status than about its clothes. In April 2011 Balmain announced that Decarnin was to be replaced by Olivier Rousteing.
Rousteing had joined the company in 2009, after attending a prestigious French fashion school and working under Roberto Cavalli. While he liked Decarnin's aesthetic, he wanted to orient the label towards the finer aspects of French couture. At the time of his appointment, Rousteing was a relatively unknown designer, and has brought a much-needed fresh take on the brand's aesthetic that remains to this day. He was credited with adding an Asian influence to the clothing, as Asia comprises a huge part of the brand's buyers.
Recent history
In 2015 H&M announced a collaboration with Balmain
Making Balmain the 11th guest-designer collaboration. At the 2015 Billboard Music Awards: Rousteing (with international Supermodels Jourdan Dunn and Kendall Jenner) walked the red carpet wearing BalmainxH&M to reveal the surprise collaboration. The collection was developed, produced and shipped in 11 months and contained decorations rich with metallic threads, rhinestones, and pearl embellishments. This was the most intricately advanced, tailored, and heaviest beadwork /embroidery H&M has ever produced.
November 5, 2015 the collaboration went live in-stores and online. Due to high traffic, H&M.com crashed cashed, causing a social media uproar. Olivier's goal was "to give the H&M customer spending $200 the same feeling and experience of a Balmain customer spending $20,000." The collaboration featured tailoring, oversized silhouettes, draping and Parisian femininity, as well as pieces for the urban warrior. A true definition of Masstige, this has arguably been H&M's most successful collaboration in the past decade (compared alongside Versace, Alexander Wang, Maison Margeila, Karl Lagerfeld etc. Thousands of shoppers were in queue, camped in front of stores for days. Some pieces can still be found online, reselling for 3-4x the original price.
In April 2016, Balmain opened its New York flagship store in Soho.
Balmain x L'Oreal
"On average, one tube of Color Riche Lipstick is sold every three seconds globally!"
Rousteing has given L'Oreal Paris's iconic Color Riche formula the Balmain feel. His creative direction included the overseeing of the creative design of the lipstick tubes, Selecting three color themes that come in a total of 12 shades and overall direction of the ad campaign. The product was sold exclusively at Barney's and L'Oreal boutiques worldwide.
Balmain x Victoria's Secret
During the holiday 2017 season, Olivier and his creative team utilized transmedia storytelling to tease a new collaboration collection with "sneak peek" videos across web and social media platforms. This is the first time Victoria's Secret has collaborated with a high fashion designer for its VS Fashion Show and a retail collection. The brand partnership teamed up for an extensive social media marketing strategy that included:
- A short video series; behind-the-scenes footage / garment creation / interviews with the creative team; broadcast on social media.
- Timed reveals of which Top Models. #VSAngels will walk the show.
- Staged and filmed for the first time in Shanghai, China the 2017 VSFS aired on Tuesday November 28 on CBS.
- Controversial buzz surrounding certain celebrities unable to attend because of banned or barred entry into China.
- The lingerie pieces were available for sale immediately in stores and online after the VSFS.
The collection went on sale online and in flagship store o November 30, 2017. Top models in the show and campaign include: Candice Swanepoel, Adriana Lima, Jasmine Tookes, Sara Sampaio, Karlie Kloss, Josephine Skriver, Cindy Bruna, Alessandra Ambrosio, Maria Borges and Alexina Graham. Prices of the lingerie and accessories ranged from $28 to $248.
2018: Launch of 44 François Premier
Labelled as an "experimental couture" collection, Olivier Rousteing revealed this capsule couture collection of Red Carpet-Worthy Gowns to close friends, buyers and press in a privately held event at the close of PFW A/W 2018. Guests exclaimed "this grouping goes for high-gloss elegance. Start with Old Hollywood, pass through Paris in the '80s, land on Rousteing's sexy vibe, and you've arrived at 44 François Premier." The collection will be made available at Paris headquarters and in selected Balmain flagships worldwide.
Licensing
As of 2012, 50% of the company's total income is from license royalties.
Balmain and Inter Parfums Inc.
Licensing, development and production deal for 12 years starting from January 2012.
$1.9 million, fragrance sales in 2012, rising to $6.8 million in 2014
$4.2 million in 2016 sales declined 21 percent at average exchange declining 5.8 percent the previous year. Olivier terminated this contract in March, 2017 due to declining sales. Production was turned over to Inter Parfums America temporarily, until Balmain can work out a deal with a new distributor for its 12 fragrances.
Balmain and L'amy America.
Also in 2012, Production, marketing and distribution (wholesale and e-commerce) of ultra-luxe eyewear. The Balmain eyewear collection encompasses a tender marriage between strong, edgy detail and soft, feminine elegance. Meticulously designed; the frames each bear signature details: a circular badge with the Balmain 'b', black / gold accents / studs / chains / fashion shapes / leather / gloss and matte effects.
Balmain's new strategy focuses on film too. Last July, the producer of the 'Valentino: the Last Emperor' bio-documentary deployed some members of his team at Balmain to work on a film on Olivier Rousteing, entitled 'The Wonder Boy', to be released in 2019 and which may be presented at the Cannes Film Festival.
Head designers of Balmain
- 1945-1982: Pierre Balmain
- 1982-1990: Erik Mortensen
- 1990-1992: Hervé Pierre Braillard
- 1993-2002: Oscar de la Renta
- 200200000: Laurent Mercier
- 2003-2006: Christophe Lebourg
- 2006-2011: Christophe Decarnin
- 2011-0000: Olivier Rousteing
From 1947 to 1976 Balmain's directrice (director) was Ginette Spanier.
References
External links
- Official website
- NY Magazine profile
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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