L'Atelier Balmain

“My last runway surprised more than a few,” explains Olivier Rousteing. “Coverage of previous Balmain shows often focused on the fashion-week festivals and spectacles—but for our Fall 2023 Balmain Women’s designs, my team and I were determined to steer clear of the fireworks. Instead, we shone a single, perfectly directed spotlight upon the extraordinary possibilities offered to us whenever we celebrate this house’s rich heritage. We turned the volume way down, channeling the hushed atmosphere of Pierre Balmain’s intimate post-war couture salon presentations. By limiting the number of invitees, we allowed each guest the opportunity to better appreciate, close-up, just how our atelier’s impressive craftsmanship made possible the collection’s many surprising, fresh and modern spins on our founder’s signature silhouettes and this house’s most cherished codes.

For this episode, Olivier Rousteing sits down once again with John Gilligan for a conversation about his Balmain Fall 2023 designs for men and women. Rousteing also explains the origins and inspirations for a special joint couture collection that he created in partnership with Beyoncé: The Beyoncé x Balmain Renaissance Collection.

As you listen to this episode, we invite you to click here to open a special webpage, which will allow you to scroll through videos and images of each collection, as Olivier Rousteing explains the inspirations, details and presentations of his designs.

CREDITS L’ATELIER BALMAIN EPISODE 2.7

OLIVIER ROUSTEING: MY BALMAIN FALL 2023 COLLECTIONS

Balmain Creative Director: Olivier Rousteing

Episode Direction and Production: Seb Lascoux

Balmain Historian: Julia Guillon

Episode Coordination: Jeremy Mace

Webpage Layout and Coordination: Léa Bouyssou

Olivier Rousteing was interviewed by John Gilligan

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Pierre Balmain’s designs were key ingredients in some of the twentieth century’s most important fashion shootings. Month after month, season after season, the house’s couture creations were worn by beautiful models in incredible locations, captured by talented photographers and published by the leading magazines.

Since this episode is centered on some of the mid-century’s most iconic fashion images, you may want to click on the webpage link to view the incredible photographs that our expert guests are describing.

One of this podcast’s fashion authorities is Susanna Brown, who joins us for a second time. Brown, a photography curator and art historian, has overseen some of the most impressive photography exhibitions in recent years, including a 2012 exhibit on Cecil Beaton, a 2014 exhibit on Horst and the acclaimed 2019 show on Tim Walker—all first shown at London’s Victoria And Albert (V&A) Museum. In Episode Six , Susanna Brown spoke with us about the photographer Horst and she returns today to talk about other celebrated fashion photographers of the twentieth century and walks us through some of their most notable creations.

Lynn Yaeger, the CFDA-award winning journalist who is known for her unique ability to mix an incredible design knowledge with often-amusing and always thought-provoking takes on class, politics, society and history also joins us on this episode.

CREDITS L’ATELIER BALMAIN EPISODE EIGHT

Incredible Beauties, Legendary Photographers And Iconic Images

Balmain Creative Director: Olivier Rousteing

Special Podcast Guests: Susanna Brown and Lynn Yaeger

Episode Direction and Production: Seb Lascoux

Balmain Historian: Julia Guillon

Episode Coordination: Alya Nazaraly

Research Assistance: Pénélope André and Yasmine Ban Abdallah

Digital Coordination/Graphic Identity: Jeremy Mace

Episode researched, written and presented by John Gilligan

To explore further:

Pierre Balmain: My Years and Seasons, (Doubleday, 1965)

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A key person behind the rapid early growth of Balmain and smooth operations of the legendary flagship at 44 François Premier was Ginette Spanier. Spanier was the first person to be named as Balmain’s Directrice, (the Director of the house), and she remained in that position for almost thirty years. While her name may not be familiar to many today, she was a well-known personality during her time at Balmain—due not only to her superb management of the house’s rapid growth, but also to her amazing life story.

It’s an incredible history that—just as the announcer of the popular television series “This Is Your Life” notes in the snippet we use to begin this episode—can be summed up as one of “fun, fear and fate.” Because Ginette Spanier was not only a genius at management—she was also a war hero.

Spanier’s extraordinary history, told in a trio of best-selling autobiographies, is composed of a series of startling changes and her perfect adaptation to each of them. She began life as a rich Parisian. But, after her upper-class family moved to London, her parents lost their fortune during the Great Depression. Suddenly needing to work, Spanier transformed herself into a Fortnum and Mason salesgirl, rubbing shoulders with royals, artists and aristocrats of the time. And then, after moving back to Paris to live with her new French husband in 1939, she was forced to spend the years of the Nazi occupation on the run, sheltered by brave résistants, as she and her husband—both Jewish—fled the Germans and their Vichy collaborators. Immediately after the liberation of Paris, she joined the Allied forces, helping to recruit, train and organize needed support staff for the American army, as it headed east toward Berlin. After the Nazis were finally defeated, Spanier worked to create and manage the team of translators that assisted in the prosecution of the some of the modern era’s most horrific war criminals, during the historic judgement at Nuremberg.

So... it’s clear that Spanier did not come with the typical background that one might expect for a Director of a French luxury haute couture house.

As Directrice of Balmain for almost 30 years, Spanier oversaw the everyday workings of Balmain—skillfully managing all members of the team and working closely with Pierre Balmain to make key decisions on collections and strategy.

She also oversaw the house’s daily shows and its large team of in-house haute-couture models, known as the Balmain Cabine. To best understand how Paris’ post-war model and show system worked, the podcast is joined once again by the award-winning fashion journalist Lynn Yaeger. And of course, Lynn was happy to share some amazing (and sometimes quite scandalous) tales with us.

Learn more on Balmain.com

CREDITS L’ATELIER BALMAIN EPISODE SEVEN

Fun, Fear and Fate

Fun, Fear and Fate: Ginette Spanier and Mid-Century Balmain

Balmain Creative Director: Olivier Rousteing

Audio: This Is Your Life, 09.02.1972: Courtesy of Ralph Edwards Productions, TIYL Productions & Fremantle

Special Podcast Guest: Lynn Yaeger

Episode Direction and Production: Seb Lascoux

Balmain Historian: Julia Guillon

Episode Coordination: Alya Nazaraly

Research Assistance: Pénélope André and Yasmine Ban Abdallah

Digital Coordination/Graphic Identity: Jeremy Mace

Episode researched, written and presented by John Gilligan

To explore further:

Pierre Balmain: My Years and Seasons, (Doubleday, 1965)

Ginette Spanier: It Isn’t All Mink (Collins, 1959 and V&A Publishing, 2017)

Ginette Spanier: And Now It’s Sables (R. Hale, 1970)

Ginette Spanier: Long Road To Freedom (R. Hale, 1976)

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This Episode’s Music:

PRALINE SUNG BY JEAN SABLON

Balmain’s Creative Director, Olivier Rousteing, makes it very clear—collection after collection—that he believes that fashion can never be separated from music. Inspired by Rousteing, each l’Atelier Balmain podcast carefully selects artists and music that reflect and strengthen the story being told.

During this episode, Lynn Yaeger managed to give her own distinctive spin to the translated lyrics of an early 1950’s French hit song about one of Balmain’s biggest stars: Praline. Paris has had many beautiful women (and men...

We start this episode with an examination of an iconic 20th-Century photograph: the black-and-white image of Gertrude Stein, seated in Pierre Balmain’s showroom, which was captured by the fashion photographer Horst for Vogue in 1946.

Maira Kalman, the celebrated author, illustrator and designer explains why she chose to recently paint her own version of this legendary image for her recent edition of “The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas.” Susanna Brown, who has curated some of the most impressive fashion photography exhibits at London’s V&A museum also joins the podcast to discuss that image, as well as some of the other photos that came out of that now-legendary Horst session for Vogue. Few people know more about Horst than Brown, who edited the V&A’s beautiful book on Horst and curated the museum’s 2014 show "Horst: Photographer of Style" —an international touring exhibit that showcased over 250 images drawn from Horst’s six-decade career. Brown expertly guides us through Horst’s fascinating life and career, explaining what makes the photographer’s work stand apart. She also discusses another of her favorite Horst-Balmain shootings, from among the many which took place over Horst’s long career at Vogue. Lynn Yaeger closes the episode’s discussion, with insights on why fashion magazines evolved from using mid-century illustrators,(like Gruau, who had a long history with Balmain) to today’s near-total dependence on photos.

This is the fourth of four l’Atelier Balmain episodes exploring the house’s first collection. Underlining how that first show introduced what Alice B Toklas defined as a “New French Style,” the four podcasts focus on Pierre Balmain's astounding success in overcoming the extremely difficult conditions, while also placing the spotlight on some of the many fashion and cultural icons who were part of the house’s earliest days and helped guarantee the success of the Paris fashion world’s first post-war star, Pierre Balmain.

The inherent joy of the legendary Horst photo of Stein seated in the Balmain showroom—this is an image that Kalman perfectly sums up as being one of “sheer giddy delight”—matched that of the young Pierre Balmain at this same moment. With the long war years finally over and his daring audacious gamble of his first collection having paid off, Pierre Balmain was sure that a better future lay ahead. That early house spirit was recently channeled by Olivier Rousteing for his Spring 2021 collection, with its focus on the beauty of travel and the message that better days lie ahead, soon, for all of us.

Learn more on Balmain.com

CREDITS L’ATELIER BALMAIN EPISODE SIX

A NEW FRENCH STYLE, PART 4: HORST, GRUAU AND ICONIC BALMAIN

Balmain Creative Director: Olivier Rousteing

Special Podcast Guest: Susanna Brown

Special Podcast Guest: Maira Kalman

Special Podcast Guest: Lynn Yaeger

Music: “Fleur de Paris” by Josephine Baker

Additional Music: Jean-Michel Derain

Episode Direction and Production: Seb Lascoux

Balmain Historian: Julia Guillon

Episode Coordination: Alya Nazaraly

Research Assistance: Fatoumata Conte and Pénélope André

Digital Coordination/Graphic Identity: Jeremy Mace

Episode researched, written and presented by John Gilligan

To explore further:

The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein, Illustrated by Maira Kalman (Penguin 2020)

Horst Photographer Of Style; Susanna Brown (Victoria and Albert Museum)

Pierre Balmain’s Autobiography: My Years and Seasons, Doubleday, 1965

This Episode’s Music:

Balmain’s Creative Director, Olivier Rousteing, makes very clear—collection after collection—that he believes that fashion can never be separated from music. Inspired by Rousteing, each l’Atelier Balmain podcast carefully selects artists and music that reflect and strengthen the story being told.

For this episode, we once again rely on a classic from Josephine Baker, who had a long relationship with Balmain. Baker offers us another version of “Fleur de Paris”—the same French post-war song that we played a few episodes ago—when we offered the Maurice Chevalier version for Episode Three.

The joy and pride that Josephine Baker feels as she sings is evident—and understandable. After all, Baker is a decorated French war hero—she actually fought for the French Resistance. And her post-Liberation excitement reflects the same optimistic confidence in the power of new b...

Seated in the front row of the first Balmain show, alongside his friends Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, was the fascinating English Renaissance man, Cecil Beaton. The author and film director Lisa Immordino-Vreeland joins this episode of l’Atelier Balmain to discuss the fascinating life and work of Beaton. Immordino Vreeland, known for her prizewinning documentaries about some of the 20th-Century’s most talented forces in art, creation and fashion, recently focused on Beaton for her third film and second book—both titled Love Cecil—and she shares insights on his life, philosophy and creations with the podcast.

From the moment he saw his first Balmain designs, Cecil Beaton began forming an important connection to the house—in fact, almost immediately after that premiere show, Beaton began to promote the young Pierre Balmain to key members of London and Paris society. Lynn Yaeger returns to the podcast to discuss some of the English, French and American aristocratic and upper-class personalities who were quick to adopt Balmain’s fresh, feminine silhouette—and, just as one might expect, Yaeger is also happy to share the scandals and background stories connected to each of those colorful personalities.

While we explore how post-war society was quick to embrace Balmain, we also highlight how Olivier Rousteing cleverly appropriates society’s codes and signatures for today’s modern vision of luxury and class that speaks to our age — and the young, diverse and inclusive Balmain Army that Olivier Rousteing designs for today.

This is the third of four l’Atelier Balmain episodes exploring the house’s first collection. Underlining how that first Balmain show introduced what Alice B Toklas defined as a “New French Style,” the four podcasts focus on Pierre Balmain's astounding success in overcoming the extremely difficult conditions, while also placing the spotlight on some of the many fashion and cultural icons who were part of the house’s earliest days and helped guarantee the success of the Paris fashion world’s first post-war star, Pierre Balmain.

Learn more on Balmain.com

CREDITS L’ATELIER BALMAIN EPISODE FIVE

A NEW FRENCH STYLE, PART 3: BEATON, SOCIETY AND BALMAIN

Balmain Creative Director: Olivier Rousteing

Special Podcast Guest: Lisa Immordino Vreeland

Special Podcast Guest: Lynn Yaeger

Music: Echoes of France (La Marseillaise) by Django Reinhardt

Additional Music: Jean-Michel Derain

Episode Direction and Production: Seb Lascoux

Balmain Historian: Julia Guillon

Episode Coordination: Alya Nazaraly

Research Assistance: Fatoumata Conte and Pénélope André

Digital Coordination/Graphic Identity: Jeremy Macé

Episode researched, written and presented by John Gilligan

To explore further:

Love, Cecil—the documentary film and book by Lisa Immordino Vreeland (Film: Zeitgeist Films, 2017; Book: Abrams, 2017)

Pierre Balmain’s Autobiography: My Years and Seasons, Doubleday, 1965

This Episode’s Music:

Balmain’s Creative Director, Olivier Rousteing, makes very clear—collection after collection—that he believes that fashion can never be separated from music. Inspired by Rousteing, each l’Atelier Balmain podcast carefully selects artists and music that reflect and strengthen the story being told.

For this podcast, we turn to the beautiful jazz of Django Reinhardt, playing one of his most moving creations throughout the episode. Jean Reinhardt—known to all by his Romani nickname Django—was France’s first major jazz artist—and, for many critics, he is simply Europe’s greatest jazz talent, ever. Two of his hits bookend the dark years of France’s occupation. The first, “Nuages” (Clouds), is one of his most famous compositions. Written after France’s defeat in 1940, it became for many a sort of unofficial Parisian anthem, signifying hopes for eventual freedom and liberation. Reinhardt, unlike many Romani, somehow managed to avoid the camps and horrors of that time—even after his plans to escape to Switzerland were thwarted by the Nazis, he was still able to return to Paris and continue playing. Most Romani, of course, were not so connected, talented and lucky. It’s estimated that over 600,000 Romani people were interned and killed during the Porajmos (the Nazi genocide of Romani people). So, we can easily understand why Reinhardt decided to mark the Liberation with this now iconic, celebratory and joyful jazz version of “La Marseillaise,” France’s national anthem. At that ...