Balmain’s Designer, Olivier Rousteing, About Zara Copies

Olivier Rousteing

The 28 year old creative director of Balmain, Olivier Rousteing is not bothered by brands like Zara or H&M copying his designs. While many other designers find in the reinterpretation of their creations a reason to pursue them legally in court, Rousteing seems to be delighted by it. ” I think it was Coco Chanel who said if you’re original, be ready to be copied.I love seeing a Zara window with my clothes mixed with Céline and Proenza! I think that’s genius. It’s even better than what I do! I love the styling, I love the story… I watch the windows always, and it’s genius what they do today. They go fast, they have a great sense of styling and how to pick up what they have to pick up from designers. I’m really happy that Balmain is copied – when I did my Miami collection and we did the black and white checks, I knew they would be in Zara and H&M. But they did it in a clever way – they mixed a Céline shape with my Balmain print! Well done! I love that.“

The young designer talks also about the nowadays muses, like Rihanna, and he told The Independent : ” I love seeing a woman, the feeling of a model, a top model. When you look at an old Versace show, you loved the dress, but you loved Claudia Schiffer, you loved Cindy Crawford. Supermodels! With Rihanna you get that, too. Today people are looking at Rihanna like they were looking at Naomi Campbell or Claudia… nobody wants to be a model, everybody wants to be a singer. That’s the new dream. I think having Rihanna in the campaign is like having Cindy Crawford of Christy Turlington, but for my generation.“