Balmain

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Balmain (French: [balmɛ̃]) is a French luxury fashion house that was founded by Pierre Balmain in 1945. It currently operates 16 monobrand stores, including locations in New York, London, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, and in Milan's Via Montenapoleone.[1]

In 2016 Mayhoola Investments acquired Balmain for a figure reported as close to €500 million ($548 million).[2] Balmain was 70 percent controlled by heirs of Alain Hivelin. Balmain does not regularly release financial information, but Les Echos estimated its revenue in 2015 at €120 million (about $136 million), growing from an estimated €30 million (about $34 million) in 2012. Balmain expected to reach a revenue of €150 million in 2017, 90% of which is generated by the wholesale channel, and is also putting more effort into direct retail.

Controversy

In January 2019, Balmain gained people's attention after closed out Couture Week in Paris with their Couture Spring 2019 Collection, and it wasn't because of the collection. [3] At first glance, the makeup look for the show struck many viewers as alien-like, thanks to the thick, white paint that covered some models' faces, bodies and hair. But upon further reflection and examination people came the realization that, while many of the white and Asian models were indeed painted all-over in the stark white, a number of the Black models were made up in an ebony-colored paint that, for many, was too close for comfort to blackface.

Models such as Italian-Congolese born Cindy Bruna were almost unrecognisable with her face and body covered in a dark shade of makeup. Ysaunny Brito, who comes from Dominican Republic, was another model that many viewers were outraged to see her naturally caramel complexion darkened.[4]

Makeup artist Val Garland, who was behind the look, provided some (though not much) insight about the inspiration on her own Instagram posts. Beneath two photos from the show — one of a model with the white paint and another of a model with black paint — Garland provided similar, hashtag-heavy captions that included #statue and #statuesque. Perhaps Garland's intention with the makeup was, in fact, to channel a living art-type of sculptural influence.

References