A group of designers, editors, and Balmain–clad models gathered at Chelsea’s Hotel Americano on Thursday night for a cozy dinner with the brand’s head designer, Olivier Rousteing. The 26-year-old wunderkind was eager to talk about the fashion house’s new Twitter and Facebook accounts, launched earlier in the day with the help of KCD Digital, saying he even plans to field some of the tweets and comments himself. “It’s a good way to understand what [customers] feel about the collection, about the clothes, and they can see the details, and they can be more a part of my soul,” he told us after dinner. “I hope that they will ‘like us’ and enjoy a bit what we enjoyed to create.” But Rousteing isn’t in town strictly on social media business; he’s also attending Monday’s Met Gala. “I’m going with Joan Smalls,” he exclaimed. “I’m really, really proud to be with her. I’m the happiest person in the world.”
Twitter, his soul, and Joan all coincide with his one-year anniversary at the helm of Balmain. So, how’s that going? “It’s a small house, and it’s a small structure, but we are all like a small family, and we are creating together,” he said. “The challenge is keeping the rules from before and putting in who I am season after season, so that’s something that for me is important — to respect the past, because I love what Balmain was and what Balmain is, but actually what is important, too, is pushing more what I am.” Does Rousteing have any advice for Raf Simons as he gets settled in at Dior? “Seriously, I think I would more expect some advice from him, because it’s someone that I love, and it’s someone that has an amazing career. I think he’s great, so I wouldn’t have advice [for him]. I’m just proud to belong to the fashion week when he’ll present his collection, and I’m really happy that Hedi [Slimane] is going to Saint Laurent, too. So, it’s like a new change in Paris. I’m happy that’s happened.”
