PIERRE BALMAIN
May 18, 1914 – June 29, 1982
“Dress making is the architecture of movement” Pierre Balmain
The house of Balmain was established in 1945 and is still going strong 81 years later. Indeed, it has been at the forefront of fashion and beauty since its first debut and it’s easy to imagine its founding and success was inevitable. However, the reality is far more interesting. For history buffs, the year 1945 will jump out as the end of WWII and one can imagine that the golden years to follow are obvious and guaranteed. But, if you were Pierre Balmain in 1945, the outlook was anything but a glide path to success.
The son of a drapery merchant father and a mother who ran a boutique, the young Pierre was exposed to fabrics and dress from childhood. He constantly sketched clothing designs but was drawn to study architecture until Robert Piguet saw and purchased three of his sketches, suggesting that Balmain’s future was in couture. When offered a job with the celebrated Edward Molyneux, he left his architectural studies and began an apprenticeship in couture techniques. He soon joined the atelier of Lucien Lelong, a more progressive designer, where he met and formed a friendly rivalry with Christian Dior and Hubert de Givenchy. The relationship with Dior would prove especially valuable in the future. Called to military service, Balmain would return to a very different and devastated Paris.
Against this personal and world backdrop, the ambitious and talented Balmain would open his atelier. He jumped at the opportunity to secure a location at 44 François Premier, a prestigious address known as part of the Golden Triangle of Paris. Though a valuable spot, it was rife with problems for a design studio. First, there was an occupancy fight with the French Government who insisted it was reserved for their use, forcing him to fend off threatening letters and visits by overbearing bureaucrats. Second, the space was not an office but a small apartment and Balmain had to create space for his needs quickly and inexpensively; a board across the bathtub made a makeshift desk and hastily installed shelves in the kitchen stored fabric. A hallway was made to do double duty serving as a communication center and as inventory storage on racks along the walls. To save money, he anticipated Elon Musk by moving in and sleeping g in the rigged up workspace.
Add to these challenges, funding issues. At the eleventh hour his financiers backed out leaving Balmain to search for new funds and pleading with skeptical bankers for loans. It was, in the end, Dior who stepped in with the needed financial support! To add insult to financial injury, 200 francs were stolen from the safe. His sympathetic and supportive mother extracted the diamond from her engagement ring to pawn to replace the lost francs.
After surviving all these challenges, Balmain launched his first fashion show immediately joining Dior and Balenciaga as the third in a triumvirate of Paris based fashion titans. Reviews from all quarters were glowing and enthusiastic. After the lean and rationed war years there was a hunger for luxury, elegance and femininity and Balmain delivered exactly what satisfied
The taste of European socialites and Hollywood actresses — Glamour! Elegance! His studies in architecture influenced his meticulously structured designs which served to enhance and flatter the female shape in his opulent fabrics and graceful, slim lines. His silhouettes were elegantly feminine and differed from the more radical vision of Balenciaga, who eliminated the waist or moved it up or down, and the idealized vision of Dior’s New Look with its exaggerated wasp waists and flounce-y full skirts. All three found followers, but only Balmain’s would be described as “luxury of simplicity,” referring to the comfortable wearability of his silhouettes and fabrics.
The tenacity Balmain demonstrated in overcoming the problems he faced in creating his Maison and first show, served him well in his success. He was a tireless self promoter, traveling to London, Australia, Egypt, Singapore, South East Asia and the U. S. He launched six perfumes, designed costumes for the theatre, created uniforms for TWA, Southern Airways, Singapore Airlines and the uniform for France’s first female pilot and uniforms for the 1968French Olympic team. He opened ready-to-wear boutiques and expanded into menswear, makeup, jewelry and hair products. Balmain actively mentored new talent and, identifying the talent of Karl Lagerfeld, hired him as his assistant.
Balmain built a solid, sustainable business and after his death, at age 68 of liver cancer, the company has continued to thrive through management changes and financial challenges with the vision of strong Creative Directors such as Oscar de la Renta, Olivier Rousteing and now Antonin Tron. Tron began his career, appropriately, at Balenciaga followed by time at Dior and Givenchy, thus tracking the early relationships of Pierre Balmain’s career. He embodies both the historical knowledge and expertise to continue the Balmain tradition of quality, luxury and a Purely Personal vision of “the architecture of movement.”
Fun Fact: Balmain’s first perfume was named “Élysée 64-83” after his phone number!
For more designers who established their names after WWII see:
Dior Shaped the Body. Balenciaga Set it Free
Luisa Spagnoli: A Purely Personal Journey To Fashion Fame
