If you are a big fan of fashion you have probably heard this name, but if you are not we will make sure that you know everything there is to know about this special fashion designer.
This famous designer with French roots became the number one leading designer and the creative director of a known French fashion house Balmain. This is one of the richest fashion houses in the industry and there is not a lot of people who don’t know about them.
Early years
He was born as Olivier Rousteing on September 13, 1985, in a port city named Bordeaux which is situated in the southwestern part of France in Europe. This is a classical, purely French part of the country and he didn’t live through many influences of others.
He was abandoned by his real parents but was soon adopted by his new parents, when he was only one year old. This meant a huge change in his life and he is very thankful for the new opportunity he was given.
His parents had a very happy marriage and wanted to crown it with a child so they took Oliver and raised him like their own child. He said that there is not a day he doesn’t feel grateful for what they have done for him.
His mother was very loving and worked as an optician, while his dad was in baking. Although he didn’t want to do any of these careers in his life, he said that he was very happy to see his parents were loving their workplace.
He was only seven days old when he arrived at the orphanage in Bordeaux. He was black but his new parents weren’t. That didn’t change their minds to adopt him 5 months later. He has been taught about life’s cruelty pretty early on and this shaped him as a person.
It was strange in their city since he was a black baby coming to a white family back in 1986, in Bordeaux especially because it was a conservative town and a very Catholic town so his parents were put through a lot just because of it. He said that he never understood this when he was young, but he now realizes what was going on.
After all, having a black kid at home when you’re both white is prone to critics.
His father is Bruno-Jean and his mum is called Lydia.
The reason why they adopted a baby in the first place was that his mother Lydia had ovarian cancer when she was a teen so she couldn’t have a baby.
Bruno-Jean dated her before she got cancer but stayed with her despite it and married her too.
He was only 18 at that time so Oliver admires him a lot. He grew up in a well-situated family since his father was in the baking business.
He has spent his childhood in his birth town Bordeaux and was interested in fashion from a very early age.
He relocated to Paris since he managed to enroll a French private fashion school named ESMOD, “École supérieure des arts et techniques de la mode”.
Career development
He graduated design in 2003 which eventually led him to his first job as a designer in an Italian fashion house named after his creator: Roberto Cavalli.
He soon showed his great skills there and received a promotion to the place of a creative director of a women’s collection.
His big success as becoming the youngest creative director after Yves Saint Laurent gave him great self-esteem.
Oliver must thank Alain Hivelin, the majority owner and the chairman of Balmain (who died in 2014) for his quick rise in Balmain. That is because he had a vision of Balmain becoming a grand clothing empire.
Oliver doesn’t hide his admiring to the strong women he dresses – he is especially proud when Kardashian, Gigi Hadid or Rosie Huntington wear his lines because he thinks of them as bold women.
He became good friends with all of his muses.
He is also a big advocate of diversity. That is why he often uses ethnically diverse models in his fashion shows.
He himself cited that women like Kendall Jenner, Joan Smalls, A. Lima, and Rosie Huntington are his muses from the ‘Balmain Army’.
He held this position for over 5 years but decided that he wants to fulfill his ambitions and move up in the world of fashion.
That is why he joined a known fashion house Balmain in 2009. He started working with Christophe Decarnin who was this fashion house creative director with very respectable work.
It was after Decarnin was released from his position and rumors said that it was a psychological breakdown that caused his departure.
Decarnin was a very successful designer which brought Balmain huge international profit and fame so he wouldn’t leave the design house without a major reason.
The two of them worked closely and Oliver learned a bit from this skilled creator.
In the summer of 2011, when he was only 25, he was appointed to the position of DeCarnin which means that he had become the new creative director for the house Balmain.
His appointment was taken with surprise because he wasn’t a really known designer but visionaries from Balmain discovered that he has a very good eye for French couture and wanted to have someone with fresh ideas as the leader of their new campaigns.
It is also known that the fashion industry is not very diverse, especially in France, and that it is a good sign that an old couture house decided that a black man should be their new creative director.
His first success was implementing Asian influence in their clothing lines since he knew that a lot of their buyers come from that part of the world.
He also made a huge improvement in menswear because his designs appealed young men who wanted a modern and elegant solution for their clothes.
It is estimated that almost 40% of their sold clothing in menswear which was two times less before he became the director.
He was so good at his job that he affected the rise of Balmain’s revenue up to 20% in his first 3 years of work.
He opened boutique stores in London and in New York due to good figures he managed to bring to his employer.
Oliver Rousteing also realized that it is important to work with known celebrities from all over the world so he has a very good relationship with Kim Kardashian, J-Lo, Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown who wore a lot of his models both in business and in private life.
During his era in Balmain, this French clothing label managed to become the first French brand to get over one million followers on Instagram.
In 2014, he hired Rihanna as the face of the brand for their new summer campaign and was thrilled with her.
He admires her a lot and especially likes her confidence. He believes that she is a true example of his “warrior women” and he even made a joke that Rihanna is the only girl in the world that could make him rethink his sexual orientation.
In 2015, he was hired by one of the most popular male singers in the world, Justin Bieber, to design his embroidered jacket which he wore for the 2015 Met Gala event and which Justin liked very much.
Olivier stated that it took over a month to get the jacket finished and to make it perfect for Olivier’s strict character.
In 2017, he was hired to design opera costume’s for a big show in the summer of the same year.
He has also wоrked оn thе nеw іѕѕuе оf “Attitude”, a popular lіfеѕtуlе mаgаzіnе from Great Britain.
Personal life
As for his personal life, it is known that he is adopted. It is also known that he is gay and he doesn’t hide it.
In 2017 he released a collection of lipsticks designed by him and made in collaboration with L’Oreal.
He thinks it will make luxury more approachable to women everywhere.
He was very close to his grandmother Suzelle who was the one family member who was really into fashion.
She learned him a lot about fashion and always wore Chanel pearls.
He has over 5 million followers on his Instagram account.
Quick summary
Full name: Olivier Rousteing
Date of birth: September 13, 1985
Birthplace: Bordeaux, France, Europe
Age: 34
Profession: fashion designer, manager, fashion magazine editor
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 63 kgs
Net Worth: $15 million