Balmain Fall Winter 2023 - 2024 Runway Collection at Paris Fashion Week

Balmain Fall Winter 2023 – 2024 Runway Collection at Paris Fashion Week

Balmain Fall Winter 2023 – 2024 Runway Collection is In Four Bullet Points / four key phrases:

01: By celebrating where we come from, we can clearly see where we are headed.

This line, pulled from Balmain’s official definition of the house DNA, perfectly encapsulates today’s presentation—for this is a runway that’s directly inspired by the incredible silhouettes, signatures and patterns that we’ve pulled from our rich archives. For those who’d like to know a little more, here’s a bit of background about the history and inspirations behind some of today’s key looks of Balmain Fall Winter 2023 – 2024 Runway Collection.

02: “The style that is being resurrected must be adapted to the present” (Pierre Balmain) We’re aiming for timelessness, not time travel. That’s one of the lessons that Pierre Balmain left behind for us. As he guided his house during its first four decades, Monsieur Balmain repeatedly stressed fashion’s need to constantly evolve, noting that unless a designer wishes to create period costumes better suited for the theater, it’s imperative that collections reflect the modern needs and the distinctive tastes of each new generation. So, while this runway does celebrate our founder’s legendary New French Style, we continue to be just as inspired by the uniquely audacious, forward-looking and optimistic values of this house.

03: “If a seam is not quite right, that is a matter of life and death.” (Ginette Spanier) It’s clear that Spanier, Balmain’s Directrice from 1947 to 1976, agreed with her boss when Monsieur Balmain stated that “Only in Paris do all the couture workers, from seamstresses to mannequins, worship and treat a dress like a baby…. in Paris, when the day is over, the artisans are willing to stay and sacrifice their comfort in order to produce something of great beauty.” That couture tradition of unmatched dedication to artisanal savoir-faire is what made Pierre Balmain’s pivotal post-war collections possible—and, today, it’s what allows me to explore and expand upon the obsession that I share with our founder for precise, impeccable Parisian tailoring and construction.

04: Focusing on the essential.

I’ll admit it: I doubt that anyone understands better than I the attention-grabbing power of fashion-festival fireworks and social-media teases. But for today’s intimate, smaller presentation, we’re aiming to steer clear of any fashion-week hyperbole and, instead, we’re shining the spotlight directly upon the enduring power and singular sustainability of timeless designs created by Paris’ finest artisans. By doing that, this runway makes clear that we build directly upon an impressive foundation as we create collections for today, while always preparing for tomorrow.

Olivier Rousteing, Paris, 1 March 2023