Having recently welcomed new creative director, Olivier Rousteing, 25, a few weeks ago, the French design house Balmain – known for exorbitant pricing – announced plans to expand its offerings with the launch of an affordable 2012 spring-summer line, reports Vogue.
Thanks to a new licensing deal with Italian company Ittierre, the brand will officially launch the new collection of ready-to-wear fashions for men and women next September – possibly during New York Fashion Week.
The new collection will be called Pierre Balmain, in honor of the brand founder, and will be developed by an independent design studio located in Italy.
Overseen by new creative director Olivier Rousteing, the collection will still retain the spirit of the house, while hopefully bearing price tags within reach of a younger and broader fashion market.
On April 26, the house of Balmain announced the appointment of young Olivier Rousteing as its new creative director. Rousteing replaces Christophe Decarnin, and will supervise the design and development of the brand’s men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections.
He is currently in charge of the womenswear design studio at Balmain, a position he has held since 2009.
In just eight years, the young French designer has enjoyed a meteoric ascent into the fashion world since he graduated from Paris’s École Supérieure Des Arts Et Techniques De La Mode (ESMOD) in 2003.
Before joining Balmain, he worked five years at Roberto Cavalli, where he was promoted to the designer for the women’s and men’s ready-to-wear collections.