Balmain

December 2013: It’s that time of year again when each day we are greeted by a glossy new campaign. Balmain have set the bar high this season, as they have bagged the one and only Rihanna as their new face. Can you say MAJ-OR?!

‘In front of the camera, she makes you feel like she is the only girl in the world,’ said Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing. ‘When the woman that inspires you wears your creations, your vision feels complete.’

The ad was shot in New York by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. The campaign is deliciously 80s, as in the images a curly-haired Rihanna rocks an off-the-shoulder dress with gold chain detailing, gold capped boots, chain belts and oversized cuffs.

In his interview for The Independent (July 2014) Olivier Rousteing praised Rihanna who was the model for the Balmain advertisements, dressed in quilted leather, denim and houndstooth-checks. She’s 26 – the same generation, then, as Rousteing.

“It was an amazing statement for the house, for fashion,” he says. “It was really important that she was doing the campaign because she’s my muse, she’s my icon, and she’s my friend. “She owned the clothes,” he says – meaning psychologically, rather than fiscally, although she doubtless owns a lot of them now. “That’s exactly what I want. 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.”

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