Before Inez or Vinoodh, Mert or Marcus, Mario or Mario, Peter Beard was the photographer snapping by day and living fabulously by night. A recent monograph on his work has thrust him back into the public eye, but it s his life story as much as his oeuvre that spoke to Balmain s Olivier Rousteing. "A man who goes to Africa who discovers the culture and goes back to America to be glamorous at Studio 54!" he marveled at a presentation in his offices.
What Rousteing appreciated was the mix of cultures Beard represented: the adventurer looking into the heart of East Africa (and finding Iman there, for good measure), bringing with him an East Coast American culture of smart-dressing prep. "Today it s all about the balance, the mix," Rousteing said. Beard was the Balmain man before the Balmain man.
In homage to Beard, Rousteing worked a safari theme. The collection arrived in tones of green, khaki, and camel, and a more-than-fair amount of exotic animal prints from leopard to zebra. That in itself balanced the realistic with the extravagant. Leather jackets and drop-crotch jodhpur trousers in olive drab have staple potential; printed leopard Perfecto jackets in ponyskin and slip-on sneakers and evening shoes to match were anti-camouflage.
It all amounted to an expansion of the Balmain world. Print is new; a universe without denim front and center is new. The whole gamut of the collection was retrofitted to the theme, from the highest end (paillette-encrusted jackets in woven cord in an attempt to suggest traditional African weaving techniques) to T-shirts. Rousteing insisted that it merely represented his new direction—he s remaking Balmain: "It s being more myself; my music, my style, my generation," he said. His customers, especially his men s customers, who are more loyal and less fashion fickle than his women s, should support him. The arguments in his favor include the celebrities he s successfully courted to the brand (including Rihanna, star of his new campaign) and the opening of the new Balmain boutique in New York s Soho, planned to open in summer 2014.
