Olivier Rousteing leaves Balmain after 14 years
The creative director marked the great growth of the brand founded by Pierre Balmain in 1945 and which in 2016 was taken over by the Mayhoola fund for €500 million
by Fashion Editor
After a good 14 years, a very long time for the contemporary fashion industry, Olivier Rousteing is stepping down as creative director of Balmain, the historic French fashion house founded by Pierre Balmain in Paris in 1945.
The maison, as is the established formula in the industry, has made it known that the name of the person who will take his place 'will be announced in due course'. Rousteing, born in 1985 and of Somali-Ethiopian origin, was adopted from a French orphanage and grew up in Bordeaux. He had taken the helm of Balmain in 2011, at the age of 25, the first black designer to lead a fashion house. Netflix in 2019 dedicated the docufilm 'Wonder Boy' to him, in which Rousteing traces his career as he goes in search of his origins. In 2020, a domestic accident - a fireplace explosion - had given him severe burns all over his body, a condition from which he had since fully recovered.
While Balmain had recorded revenue of €30.4 million in 2012, it ended 2024 with an estimated turnover of €300 million, thanks in part to the personality of Rousteing himself, who is much loved by celebrities and was one of the first designers to open a profile on Instagram in 2012.
Perhaps also the great success of the collection designed in 2015 by Rousteing for H&M had aroused the interest of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund Mayhoola, which after taking over Valentino in 2012 also acquired Balmain in 2016, for an estimated sum of around EUR 500 million. In Mayhoola's portfolio, in addition to Balmain and Valentino (of which it solda 30% stake to Kering in 2023), there are also the men's tailoring brand Pal Zileri and the Turkish department stores Beymen.
"I am deeply proud of what I have achieved, and profoundly grateful to my exceptional team at Balmain, the family I have chosen, in a place that has been my home for the last 14 years," the designer wrote in a note. "My thanks go to Rachid Mohamed Rachid (ceo of Mayhoola for Investments, ndr) and Matteo Sgarbossa (the brand's ad, ndr) for their unwavering faith in me and for giving me this extraordinary opportunity. As I look to the future and the next chapter of my creative journey, I will always hold this precious time in my heart'.
