Authentic self

To his legions of followers Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing leads a charmed life, but behind the glamour is a man of depth, strength and surprises, discovers Zara Wong.

“PEOPLE SAW ME AS A KID IN FASHION SO THEY TRIED TO DIRECT ME … PUSH THEIR OWN VISION”

Zara Wong: “Everyone always wants to talk to you about social media and digital – you really brought Balmain into the digital space. Was that planned?” Olivier Rousteing: “I’ll tell you one thing, what is planned is my work. My Instagram is part of my private life that I made public. It became bigger than I thought. I started with selfies, pictures with my friends, showing that I can like a $25,000 dress but at the same time I can have fun with my friend in the park in Paris, get a hangover and go to McDonald’s. But you know what? I’m a designer, I’m young, you’re going to forgive me for what I do wrong and because I’m honest. Maybe I want to invite people to know me because maybe I don’t know myself enough.” ZW: “Because you’re young or because you’re still unsure?” OR: “It’s not that I’m unsure, it’s that I got everything so young and I’m always worried about doing something wrong. I may be shy in my private life, but in my job I just believe in myself. I realise that I don’t want to hide my feelings about fashion or my vision.” ZW: “How do you overcome your shyness?” OR: “I think I stopped being shy when I realised that when you’re shy you don’t know how to express yourself, so people will never try to get to know you more. And when you’re shy a lot of people use you, they mistake it for insecurity and try to put you down. At the beginning of my career I realised a lot of people I thought were my friends ended up using me. I was pretty insecure, because everything was new for me. So I tried to be even more confident to fight against that, and now know who really loves me and who doesn’t.” ZW: “It’s an important lesson to learn.” OR: “Yeah, and I think the biggest lesson I learnt in my career is don’t trust anyone.” ZW: “Really? Within fashion or within your personal life?” OR: “I think both. It’s an interesting question, because at the beginning a lot of people saw me as a kid in fashion so they tried to direct me and push their own vision on me. But I have a vision. I want to be maximal, couture, I want to make Balmain unique and special. This is French culture for me, this is what I’m born with. A lot of people were saying: ‘No, you shouldn’t do that, you should do this.’ In my private life, to tell you the truth … when you start to become a little bit famous you have to find a way to know if people want to be friends with you for the fame or if they will actually stand by you.” ZW: “Now, how do you tell if someone wants to know you because you’re Olivier Rousteing from Balmain or because you’re Olivier?” OR: “Because I think I am now more mature – I turned 30 six months ago – my vision is way more precise. When I was 24 [when he became the creative director of Balmain], I believed everybody was going to love me, but today I know that fashion is a business. Everybody is looking for love, not only love as a [romantic] partnership, but from everywhere, and I’m not the first one. But love is like a fashion trend, it goes by fast. It’s rare to find friends in fashion but I know that when I find them they are the right people and I’m not disappointed anymore like when I was at 24. Let’s be honest: in the beginning it was difficult for me.” ZW: “You learnt to look after yourself and protect yourself.” OR: “And you know what? Instagram is amazing for me because it’s a new protection for me. It is not intruding in my life. I’m going to give you what I want to give you from my life and you’re going to see what you want to see from my life.” ZW: “It’s like you’re curating and editing what you present.” OR: “Yeah, it’s exactly that. I just want to show the truth and my vision.” ZW: “Is it easier now because you’re used to it?” OR: “Now, for me it’s fine. Before I was really sad, waking up in the morning at 4am to check the first critique of my show. Now I don’t really care so much about critics because you understand that you’re looking for love from journalists, but journalism is a business. Some people hate me for my vision, the way that I am, my youth. I love being 30, discovering things, pop culture, the present. I don’t need to look to and be inspired by the past to make the future. I think that is part of what makes Balmain modern and different. Whatever people say about Balmain and whatever they critique about Balmain, Balmain is still relevant. Everybody goes for minimal and the critics love it. I go for maximal because it is who I am and I am happy to be that person today and to be that person tomorrow.” ZW: “A lot of your friends who appear on your social media and at your parties are very well known. You’ve spoken

about finding people who are genuine and like you for who you are – does this apply to famous and non-famous people?” OR: “I think it’s different. I don’t see Kim [Kardashian] as a famous person anymore and I don’t think she sees me just as a Balmain designer. Kim is one of my closest friends. People sometimes don’t understand our friendship, because they think it is a business. She is so humble and generous. If she loves something she is going to thank them, from the waiter to the chef. When we make her clothes she sends flowers for my entire building and she goes to the ateliers and meets the pattern makers to understand the background. I love Kris [ Jenner] as well. I went to LA three years ago and she invited me to the Armenian restaurant with the entire family and I had the best time, because she wanted to make me discover her family.” ZW: “The past few years have seen Kim being embraced by the fashion industry. What is it like to observe people’s reactions change towards her?” OR: “I love her because she had such an incredible evolution, but you know what I think is more impressive? The revolution that she gave to fashion. She brought to fashion different shapes and inspiration. I am adopted, so I don’t know where my colours come from, and seeing Kim and Kanye building this family with North and Saint is really important for me; they are the new modern family. People who were closing their door four years ago are today opening them for her. People change their mind because that is the most important thing in fashion, changing and moving, believing and evolving.” ZW: “How do you take inspiration from Kim for this particular collection?” OR: “The shape of the body-con dress, which Balmain is known for. But what does body-con mean when the body is different than 10 years ago? I love the Kim shape. For me it brings me back to the queens of Versailles, so my shapes and colour palette are different. She loves changing hair colours, so I wanted to do an homage to her and the revolution in fashion, but also the revolution she did in my mind artistically.” ZW: “Has there been anything that you have changed your mind about in fashion?” OR: “I used to think that fashion was beautiful, about being fabulous, making clothes, the dream. But now I realise it is a big business, so it is hard to find part of the dream. I still find it but it’s pretty difficult. The second thing for me is … not that I change my mind about people, but I accept that people disappoint me.” ZW: “Do you think some people were afraid of Kim’s body and her overt sexiness?” OR: “They were not afraid of Kim’s body: they were afraid of her confidence. I think people were scared about the new and Kim is a new, relevant femininity.” ZW: “You once said celebrity was really important to fashion, more than critics. Do you still believe this?” OR: “Yeah.” ZW: “100 per cent?” OR: “No, 200 per cent.” ZW: “Do you think celebrity will continue to have the same influence in the future?” OR: “I think celebrity might go a bit slower, because there will be a new crowd of young people going into fashion, but celebrity will always be relevant because it speaks to a new generation. I loved fashion in the 90s, the models were celebrities: Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Carla Bruni. You watched a show not only for the clothes but for the woman in the clothes, like now with Kendall and Gigi.” ZW: “You do so many interviews. What questions are you most tired of being asked?” OR: “I’m never tired of questions that people ask me, because I have evolved as well. Three years ago, I had 10,000 followers and today I have 2.8 million. Three years ago I might delete an Instagram because I was afraid people might not like it, but today I leave it, because that is who I am. I’m never sick of questions. But I am sad that I never get asked my background or my emotions or why I chose fashion.” ZW: “Why did you choose fashion?” OR: “For me fashion has been a therapy. With clothes you can express who you want to be. With not knowing my [biological] parents and coming from an orphanage, I can’t refer to any faces or culture because I don’t know where I come from. Fashion always helped me build a story that I was missing, and to know where I want to go. This has been a really big part of my process.” ZW: “You’re close with your family. What do they think about what you do? Do they attend your shows?” OR: “Yes, they do. They usually cry because they are so impressed. My grandfather came to the last show and cried before and after. He still sees me as this noisy little kid playing football and being good at school, but now seeing me getting the applause when I’m out there on the runway, it is pretty impressive for them. When I go back home [in Bordeaux] I am still the kid of the house.” ZW: “What time do you go to bed each night?” OR: “I love to go to sleep early. A lot of people see me partying but they don’t see that the rest of the week I’m going to sleep at 10.30pm. I’m not going to show them that! No-one wants to see the lifestyle of someone who eats sushi, watches the news, goes to sleep and wakes up at 6:30am, has a shower and goes to the gym. I have so many more moments that I can share that aren’t boring. If you look at my Instagram, well, you will understand that from what I achieve, with the collection and the business growing so fast, that I couldn’t do that if I was a party animal.” ZW: “Do you think that it’s funny that people see you as a party animal when you aren’t?” OR: “Yeah, it is really easy to take my Instagram like that. You could say I am a party animal adding a fish face every three pictures. They don’t understand that to get to where I am today is not without work. You can say: ‘Oh my god, I hate all these selfies, I hate seeing him party, I hate seeing him at the gym’, but that is my life and a lot of people dream about that and I am happy to share with them. Not knowing where I come from but knowing where I want to go is a positive message for so many people in the world who don’t have this chance to believe in themselves because of their background.” ZW: “What are you most proud of?” OR: “I think what I am most proud of today is being a black man in the fashion industry because there isn’t enough colour … being adopted and having what I have today even though I didn’t have any help to get to where I am. Because, who is Olivier Rousteing? I was no-one. My parents are not in fashion. I had to fight for everything that I got. I’m proud to be adopted and to show to my parents that they gave me the best education and nothing went wrong and thanks to their love I am who I am today. Everyone thinks France is really open-minded but there is a bit of the old traditions and I’m happy to break them and make something new. I’m proud of that, and I think you should say that in the story because I think it’s really important, because a lot of people are fighting for their place in the world.” Balmain’s Extatic Tiger Orchid EDP, 90ml for $105, is available from Myer.