Paris-based fashion house Balmain announced yesterday that Olivier Rousteing will succeed Christophe Decarnin as creative director. This young French-born designer not only looks like a male supermodel himself, but he has the talent to boot. Rousteing worked at Roberto Cavalli in Milan for nearly six years and joined Balmain as head of the womenswear studio in 2009.
According to Time Magazine, Decarnin left the fashion house earlier this month due to strategic disputes with chairman Alain Hivelin. Rousteing says, “I plan to honor that confidence by ensuring that Pierre Balmain always remains one of the leading brands that others look to as a reference.” He will supervise the design and development of both men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections and will reportedly not give any interviews prior to the debut of his Spring 2012 collection later this year. –mckenzie harris
