How the World of Fashion Changed with #Olivier_Rousteing

The young, socialite, celebrity-hugging creative director of Blamain, knows exactly how to breathe glamour. Oliver Rousteing took the courageous risk and went full monty on social media to reinvent the French brand. Are you following?

Take your chin on a lower angle, which gives the cheekbones a high that is needed and make sure the lighting is…preferably natural, sunlight would do. That’s the spot-on technique you need to learn from Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, the glam mecca of Paris. The young, gorgeous man with the perfect pout, knows when a lens is pointing towards him and he aces as a subject every single time.

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Olivier took on to Instagram at the time when it was building its ground amongst people all over the world; and for him, this medium was the new marketing tool. He believes himself to be an artist and also a businessman. Being with the reality TV star, Kim Kardashian taught him how to exploit social media to expand his business. Olivier is the kind who always puts up pictures of behind-the-scenes in front where everybody can see every step he takes. Initially, the fashion house wasn’t very pleased with the kind of Instagram posts Olivier would put up on his own on the company’s account. Ditto for the selfies he took, sometimes with celebrities. But Balmain’s ‘followers’ shot up.

Between Olivier’s internet presence and celebrity outreach, the brand began picking up a buzz. Famous for his Instagram exploits, Olivier is often seen partying with models and rubbing shoulders with the Kardashians. He is the creative director of Balmain, with 4 million followers on Instagram, over 60K followers on Twitter and 88,219 ‘likes’ on Facebook. Besides ruling the virtual upfront, he has an enviable friend circle. From being besties with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, to almost every night party companions–Kendell and Kylie Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Joan Smalls and Alessandra Ambrosio to name a few, are also addressed after a hashtag trend – #BALMAINARMY.

His ‘army’ as he defines, is a collection of models, actors, musicians and pop-culture icons whom he calls as glamorous, beautiful, diverse, confident, sexy and powerful–especially powerful. Olivier has long considered supermodel Jourdan Dunn as his muse. She is also been quite prominent and is often seen with the creative director.

After being introduced to her by Kanye West, Olivier has taken a big liking for Kim Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner. He regularly hangs out with them in Paris. Kim, not surprisingly, has worn Balmain to everything from her Paris bachelorette party to the MTV Video Music Awards, Met Gala 2016 and was recently seen with Olivier through her Snapchat stories. Binx Walton, the model may not be the one whose name you would hear everyday, but she happens to be his biggest muse. He’s talked frequently on how taken he was by her the first time they met, and how she personifies what his brand is about.

In June 2013, singer Rihanna went a step further. She posted a few pictures with Olivier on Instagram showing off their ramp skills in a closet-turned-runway. She seemed to be in full awe of the designer and even captioned on one snap, “It’s like wearing a Mona Lisa trust me! This shit is art, like you don’t even wanna touch it!!.” Olivier has called Rihanna his muse, and said she could turn him straight, and even hand-picked all the costumes for her Diamond Tour. She flooded her Instagram account with pictures of her outfits and about Olivier, trending hashtags like #TheyOnlyPlayMusicHere and #HeCalledMeHisMuse. From this moment on everything changed for Olivier who went forward to ruling Instagram.

Olivier considers Rosie Huntington- Whiteley a bombshell. His another recruit is reformed child pop star turned heartthrob Justin Bieber, whom he took, dressed in a glittering jacket, as his date to the highbrow Met Gala. It was evident that Bieber was really honored to have Olivier support him at his first ever Gala appearence.

His social media platform (especially. Instagram) has helped Balmain become the first French brand to hit the 5.5 million followers. Olivier, who after all these successful years on the job wants to make it clear to all those who think that he is not a fashion fanatic, is determined to change that. For him his job is not just to design clothes but to also give a new vision to fashion.

1. ROSIE HUNTINGTON- WHITELEY WITH OLIVIER ROUSTEING. 2. OLIVIER WITH COREY GAMBLE, KRIS JENNER, KIM KARDASHIAN AND KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN. 3. BINX WALTON FOR BALMAIN FALL 2015 RTW. 4. OLIVIER ROUSTEING WITH RIHANNA.

From the November 2016 issue of L’Officiel India.