Olivier Rousteing of Balmain ended the second day of Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday by making a statement and thinking about Ukraine. VIPs like Serena Williams watched as a group of dancers who looked like soldiers and wore hats that looked like helmets started the show in Le Marais. They seemed to fight each other to show a battle, until the two soldiers in the front kissed dramatically.
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Rousteing linked the show, which had drum music that sounded like war, to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. He even wrote a note in which he said the collection was a “push-back against lies, hate, and aggression,” referring to the “anxiety-inducing headlines of the past week.”
But the collection itself dealt with the idea of honesty and openness in a metaphorical way: through color.
The idea for the show came from Rousteing’s own struggle with secrecy after an explosion in his home in October 2020 burned him and left him with permanent scars. He felt bad that the theme of the collection went along with what was happening in Eastern Europe.