Creative Director Olivier Rousteing Builds on Balmain’s Legendary Fashion and Perfume History to Change the Meaning of Beauty for the Future
PARIS--BUSINESS WIRE--
Balmain announces today the launch of its first beauty creation, a collection of eight all-gender eaux de parfum, “Les Éternels de Balmain.” This trailblazing fragrance experience was inspired by Pierre Balmain’s Parisian legacy and Olivier Rousteing’s modern influence on fashion, and now beauty.
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Balmain Beauty/ Les Éternels de Balmain (Photo Credit: Balmain Beauty/ Richard Pierce)
Identity Has a Fragrance
Olivier Rousteing inventively builds upon the house’s signature French heritage to share his new vision of avant-garde beauty, fueled by respect, love, and unity. Infusing resolute inclusivity to modern luxury fragrance-making, Olivier Rousteing’s creative vision galvanizes audiences and fans globally to celebrate their individual beauty. Fragrance becomes the first beauty chapter of a new book for the brand, to expand globally into new categories in the future.
“Balmain Beauty gives you the freedom to live your truth, free and powerful. Beauty is about being yourself and having the confidence to embrace who you are,” said Olivier Rousteing, Creative Director of Balmain. "Fashion cannot exist without beauty, and beauty cannot exist without fashion. Beauty is part of your silhouette, of who you are, just like the way you dress. I want to represent all the beauties of the world and welcome everyone without exceptions.”
Taking 21st-century Paris to the world, Balmain Beauty encapsulates the quest to find yourself and unite with others to change the meaning of beauty for the future.
Introducing Les Éternels de Balmain
Powered by a richly crafted duality of ingredients, Les Éternels de Balmain is inspired by the universal quest for self-realization and identity. This inaugural collection includes eight multi-layered scents from four distinctive olfactive families – Musk, Amber, Floral, and Woody.
Olivier Rousteing has been the lead architect of Balmain Beauty from inception, and in every aspect of creation from concept to scent development, to package design and campaign imagery. He studied perfumery, learning the creation process through hands-on training. After consulting Balmain’s storied archives, he handpicked four of Balmain's legacy scents to be reinvented for the modern era: Vent Vert, Ivoire, Ébène, and Carbone. Four new fragrances complete the collection: Sel d’Ambre, Rouge, Bronze, and Bleu Infini.
“Balmain Beauty is forging a new, avant-garde space in luxury beauty that celebrates the legacy and inclusive spirit of the iconic house of Balmain,” said Guillaume Jesel, who oversees Balmain Beauty as the President and CEO, TOM FORD and Luxury Business Development, The Estée Lauder Companies. “Olivier Rousteing is one of the most accomplished designers of his generation, inventing revolutionary concepts at the confluence of past, present, and future. It has been an extraordinary journey bringing his vision for Balmain Beauty to life.”
“Just like Olivier Rousteing’s most impressive runways, Balmain’s ambitious plans for future luxury growth build directly upon a skilled melding together of the richness of our singular heritage with a distinctively modern outlook,” explains Matteo Sgarbossa, Chief Executive Officer, Balmain. “Our agreement with The Estée Lauder Companies for Balmain Beauty is an obvious embodiment of that strategy. With this partnership, the house begins a new chapter, making very clear to all our commitment to maximizing cross-category possibilities as we move forward, driven by the passion of our ‘Balmain Army’ and determined to fully realize this house’s potential to become a true leader in the luxury world.”
The Olfactive Power of Duality
Les Éternels de Balmain features future-forward elements joined by precious and legendary ingredients:
Olfactive Family: Musk
- Carbone drives the quest for identity and freedom to confidently reflect all the facets of who you truly are (maximalist musk/ minimalist rose).
Olfactive Family: Amber
- Sel d'Ambre’s golden mystery illuminates the path to inner peace and self-realization (glowing amber/ salty ambergris).
Olfactive Family: Floral
- Vent Vert reinvents the iconic green fragrance for a new age, respecting nature forever in a timeless journey through past, present, and future (airy vert de mandarine/ sensual jasmine).
- Rouge radiates addictive love, reminiscent of Los Angeles’ magic hour, when the sky is not even the limit (addictive bouquet/ radiant woods).
- Ivoire carries Balmain’s New French Style legacy to the world and into the future. It unites all the beauties of the world, no exceptions (intoxicating tubéreuse de nuit/ untamed vetiver).
Olfactive Family: Woody
- Bronze symbolizes rebirth, majestically rising like the phoenix from the ashes (blazing cedarwoods/ cooling patchouli).
- Ébène is the revival of Pierre Balmain’s 1983 Africa-inspired fragrance, envisioned through the lens of Olivier Rousteing’s discovery of his origins. It ushers in the age of self-discovery and a journey to reveal our universal origin (eternal ebony wood/ precious myrrh oil).
- Bleu Infini transports to endless skies, infinite seas, and their call to set you free (warm cistus absolute/ salted lichen).
“Balmain Beauty embodies a steadfast commitment to excellence in perfumery, emphasizing not only the olfactive experience, but also the evocative emotions it elicits brought to life by an iconic visual campaign,” added Nathalie Berger Duquene, SVP, Global General Manager, Balmain Beauty, The Estée Lauder Companies. “The beauty of craftsmanship is exuded in both the packaging design and ingredients used. Our fragrances hold tension, power, and strength – they are quintessentially Balmain, rooted in diversity and inclusivity.”
The collection is inspired by Balmain’s first flacon created in 1946, a masterpiece of simplicity and timelessness. Duality was expressed in the design with contrasting elemental shapes of the circle and square, signature black and gold colors, and the label spread over two facets.
Building on this foundation, the new flacon delivers a multisensory and luxurious modern experience. The square is elongated into a lozenge; the Balmain signature rayure covering the glass echoes the gold collar’s existing texture; a new finish and color palette flatters the touch and the eye. On the cap, a graphic PB monogram symbolizes Balmain, extracted from the iconic 1970 brand labyrinth motif.
Follow the brand on social media at @BalmainBeauty and visit www.balmainbeauty.com and www.balmainbeauty.eu to shop the collection and learn more.
#BalmainBeauty
About Balmain Beauty
Balmain Beauty was established in 2022 through a partnership between the celebrated fashion house Balmain Paris and The Estée Lauder Companies to celebrate all the beauties of the world, no exceptions. It builds upon Balmain's exceptional fashion and fragrance legacy to change the meaning of beauty for the future. Its luxury beauty lines are crafted in close collaboration with Balmain Creative Director Olivier Rousteing to reflect his bold vision. By standing for the power of respect, love, and unity, Balmain Beauty embodies avant-garde luxury. In September 2024, the brand launched Les Éternels de Balmain, a new fragrance experience comprising eight all-gender eaux de parfum. Balmain Beauty is butterfly mark certified, committing to meet higher standards for people and nature.
About Balmain
More than 75 years ago, when Pierre Balmain first introduced his “New French Style,” it immediately became clear to all that his eponymous house was offering a distinctly fresh, bold, and feminine conception of haute couture, one which broke with many of the well-established conventions of the era. His audacity paid off. Pierre Balmain became one of the handful of young French talents who ushered in the mid-century golden age of couture and helped to re-establish Paris as the world’s fashion capital.
Since 2011, Balmain Creative Director Olivier Rousteing has been inventively building upon Pierre Balmain’s extraordinary legacy, while always remaining true to his own determination to design clothes that reflect the way his inclusive, powerful and global Balmain Army wishes to live today. The result is 21st-century Balmain’s renewed French style—a unique and instantly recognizable house silhouette and attitude that highlights the singular craftsmanship of the celebrated Balmain ateliers, while consistently referencing a rich Parisian heritage.
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