The spring 2026 ready-to-wear collections will see 15 debuts across New York, Milan, and Paris (sorry, Brits!). That’s in addition to the other new collections we saw for fall. It seems like the whole industry is focused on the future, but Balmain and Olivier Rousteing are marking a milestone. The storied French house is turning 80 this September—Pierre Balmain hosted his first fashion show in September of 1945!—kicking off a season of celebrations with an exhibition at Printemps New York, the French retailer’s new US outpost.
“Maybe what is actually new is to celebrate 80 years of a house and 15 years of a designer,” said Olivier Rousteing with a smile, calling from Paris ahead of his trip to New York. With this much movement and reshuffling, permanence and longevity certainly seem like novel ideas. Rousteing is now stateside for the opening of the show this evening, and because he was honored yesterday by the the Museum at FIT with the 2025 Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion.
“I’m excited about being a bit of an outsider right now,” Rousteing continued. “Everybody is thinking about changing, but what’s different is actually showing loyalty and love to a house. After almost 15 years at Balmain I feel like it’s a rebirth, and I’m proud of my last show, which was the start of a new era for the house. Balmain is a house that is resilient.”
Pierre Balmain launched his couture maison in the months after the end of World War II in France, ahead of a wave of designers who came to redefine couture and fashion as a whole. These early years are a particular focus of the Printemps show. “Balmain did not organize an exhibition for many years,” says Julia Guillon, a fashion historian and the keeper for the house’s archives. “There was only one major retrospective in 1985 in Paris. This is the first time we are hosting such a big exhibition.”
Still, don’t call it a retrospective. “It’s more of a theatrical exhibition,” says Guillon, who has curated 30 or so looks from 1945 to today, in addition to 40 photographs, sketches, and ephemera that are organized into eighth tableaux. Featuring pieces, some never before exhibited, by Mr. Balmain, Erik Mortensen, Oscar de la Renta, Christophe Decarnin, and Rousteing, the show will consider a wide range of topics, from the founder’s background in architecture to the house’s legacy of embroidery and ornamentation, its signature use of gold accents, and its monogram (which was introduced in the ’60s and resurrected by Rousteing in 2020). Mr. Balmain’s early “New French Style” look, which featured strict tailoring, cinched waists, strong shoulders, and elaborate volumes is also featured.
Sounds familiar? While Dior is synonymous with the post-war “New Look,” Guillon makes the case that Balmain got there first. “Balmain was ahead of the New Look and this story of the renewal of the French couture after the war,” she says. Case in point, when Mr. Balmain came to New York for the very first time in 1946—if you were wondering why the exhibition opens stateside, here goes—he did so at the behest of cosmetics mogul Helena Rubinstein, who invited him to design a series of outfits for the launch of a new makeup line. Mr. Balmain created eight looks during that trip, five of which appeared in a feature in Vogue dated September 15, 1946 with the headline “New look from Paris.” The more you know!
“Pierre Balmain had the audacity to start a couture house in a time that was very tough,” says Rousteing. “It’s something I’ve always admired about him.” Another thing? His ambition. “Mr. Balmain was obsessed with [going] international,” the designer continues, “he thought that Paris and France were too small for him and was obsessed with bringing the name of Balmain to the world.” Rousteing believes Balmain’s New French Style was a byproduct of his desire to develop a signature in America. “He understood that sometimes to be loved in your own country you have to export your style and come back stronger.”
The Printemps exhibition will help contextualize Rousteing’s work within the fabric of Balmain. When he started his tenure at Balmain he was a young unknown; he’s since become a recognizable figure for Millennials and Gen Zers, but those generations lack crucial context. “They are going to see the parallel between me and him, as well as between me and Christophe [Decarnin] or incredible pieces by Oscar de la Renta, which to me have been really inspiring.”
That’s another aspect of his tenure at Balmain that Rousteing would like underscored: “People sometimes don’t see that I am inspired by those elements because I’m so into pop culture and I’m a witness of my time,” he says. “But I just never want it to be obvious. His muse was Josephine Baker in the same way my muse is, let’s say, Beyoncé. He dressed Brigitte Bardot, I have Kim Kardashian; he dressed Queen Sirikit of Thailand, I have dressed Michelle Obama,” Rousteing continues: “My Balmain Army is not new, it’s inspired by his love and his obsession for the empowerment of women.”
