Inside a ‘Balmansion’
Fresh from a New York City launch party for the Balmain X H&M collection (set to hit stores Thursday), Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing winged his way west for a belated birthday party Oct. 23 that found several fashion weeks’ worth of celebrities winding their way up to a luxe-rustic cabin at the top of Laurel Canyon. The guest list included Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel, three Smiths (as in Jada Pinkett, Jaden and Willow) and a quintet of Kardashian-Jenners.
According to the designer’s rep, Rousteing officially turned the big three-oh on Sept. 23 – eight days before sending Balmain’s Spring/ Summer 2016 collection down the runway at Paris Fashion Week.
The L.A. party, thrown for the Paris-based designer by Apple’s Beats brand, featured some serious musical high notes, including DJ sets by DJ Kiss and DJ Mos and surprise performances by Marsha Ambrosius and Tyga.
The fashion flock was in town and out in force as well. Among the star-level models lounging on paillette-covered couches and milling beneath a conical bohemian tent were Chanel Iman, Cara Delevingne, Angela Lindvall, Alessandra Ambrosio (who took to the yard swing for a spin), Jourdan Dunn and Kendall Jenner (the last two appear in the ad campaign for the H&M collaboration).
Kendall’s sister Kylie Jenner was in the house too, as was mother Kris Jenner and half-sisters Kim Kardashian West and Kourtney Kardashian, the latter sitting on a sofa and snapping a selfie with Jaden Smith.
“I just popped [over] here for two days,” Rousteing told us at the fete between conversations and photo-ops with the likes of Jussie Smollett (“Empire”), Kate Hudson and Mary J. Blige. “I wanted to be here with my friends who support and love me.”
Since Rousteing’s cadre of friends and supporters have nicknamed themselves the “Balmain army” — with the more hardcore fans opting for the sobriquet “Balmaniac” — we couldn’t help but ask the birthday boy if that made the 1940s-era hillside cabin, with a view that spread out across the Los Angeles Basin like a sequincovered magic carpet, the evening’s de facto “Balmansion.”
“Balmansion? I love that idea!” Rousteing said with a huge smile, “Let’s do that!”
Rousteing, who took the reins at Balmain in 2011 (replacing Christophe Decarnin) has done much to raise the profile of the 69year-old French house, and his upcoming collaboration with H&M is likely to help propel the brand into the pop-fashion stratosphere.
So what’s left to accomplish for fashion’s ascendant star? “I’ve accomplished so much in 30 years.” he told us, “I just want to wake up tomorrow as happy as I am today.”