Balmain is teaming up with Beyoncé for a haute couture collaboration. It is the first collaboration with the singer, said the French fashion house.
Creative Director Olivier Rousteing took inspiration from Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ album for the collection and created 16 designs, one for each track on the album. It is the first haute couture collection in which a Black woman has had full creative freedom. In addition, Olivier Rousteing is the first black man to be responsible for all collections of a luxury house.
The finished collaboration designs will be featured in the April issue of French Vogue. Regarding the reveal, Rousteing said ‘Renaissance’ is more than an album. “It’s about freedom, strength, love and fighting for a better future” and sharing the arts of music and fashion.
With initial sketches and a concept, the creative director turned to Beyoncé’s stylist, Marni Senofonte. It took the team a total of five months to design, edit and craft the collection. In January, the studio moved to Los Angeles to do the final fittings there.
The collection plays with signature Balmain signatures, classic Parisian savoir-faire and a wide range of unexpected materials and techniques, the fashion house said in a statement. This is how the joy and genius of ‘Renaissance’ is to be translated into couture, which makes it clear that something powerful can arise when music and fashion are combined into a whole.
This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translation and editing: Pia Schulz