Balmain Makes a Splash with Second Evian Collaboration – WWD

Olivier Rousteing definitely has a thing for water. Balmain’s creative director swept into the party for his latest collaboration with Evian wearing a navy blazer with captain airs, and flared pants that puddled over his platform shoes.

A glass of Champagne was plopped in front of him when he sat down for an interview, and he requested some water with lemon in addition.

Asked how many photos of “eau” he has on his iPhone, he did a search on his camera phone and came up with almost 4,000 images, most of them beach scenes.

“It’s relaxing,” he said of his penchant for seaside getaways. “And you know, what I love about that is not only just the water, but the feeling of it being infinite.”

Rousteing kicked off a long-term collaboration with Evian last September by parading a dramatic, swirling couture gown on his spring 2023 runway made of a material containing 46 percent recycled plastic Evian bottles.

If that project was to demonstrate that sustainable fashion can be extravagant and maximalist, his second collaboration with Evian — a capsule collection of ready-to-wear that dropped earlier this week — skews more approachable.

“This one’s about being affordable,” Rousteing said, as guests at the cocktail event at the Plaza Athénée hotel inspected T-shirts, jeans, sweats and blousons bearing the gradient pink and blue colors of Evian water bottles, and both brands’ logos. Retail prices start at about 250 euros for bucket hats and 495 euros for T-shirts and run up to 2,990 euros for blousons.

Influencer Lena Mahfouf posed for photos in an embroidered minidress and Sarah Andelman noted that her mother’s famed boutique, Colette, began its life in 1997 with a water bar. She recalled that Evian’s teardrop-shaped Millennium edition, now hyper-collectible, kicked off the dalliance between water and design.

Prinz Pinakatt, senior vice president and global head of Danone Waters, described the Evian x Balmain partnership as its most successful to date, hinting at robust sales of the ornate bottle design released last October and targeted mainly at fine dining establishments.

Resale prices for the limited-edition vessels, festooned with bold gold lettering, blue lace, droplet motifs and baroque touches, hover around 20 euros on resale sites like eBay.

“His vision aligns very much with our vision,” Pinakatt said of Rousteing’s drive to make Balmain as sustainable as possible, and zeroing in on their shared roots in France’s Alpine region. (Founder Pierre Balmain hails from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.) “Two French icons came together with an ethos and point of view on the world that is really about evolving and changing the status quo.”

Pinakatt noted that Evian had approached Balmain about decorating a limited-edition bottle — as it has done with the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Off-White, Paul Smith and others since 2007 — and Rousteing suggested a more involved partnership.

The designer said he was keen to tap into Evian’s expertise as he strives to increase Balmain’s use of sustainable materials and technologies.

The rtw capsule boasts not only certified organic cotton, viscose and recycled materials — Balmain also partnered with Solaris to produce a transparent Balmain pool slide crafted entirely from plastic waste.

“They taught me a lot, which I’m now teaching to my supply chain,” Rousteing enthused during an interview. “And in a couple of months, I will make sure that more Balmain sneakers come out completely sustainable.

“Every year we get new people coming to teach us how to be more sustainable inside the house, and outside of the house, finding a new supply chain, finding the right fabrics, finding new countries that can develop our collections with a sustainability in mind,” he added.

Indeed, Pinakatt described Rousteing’s collaboration with Evian as a “personal passion project,” with his rtw capsule conveying the water brand’s “casual chic” ethos, and its sporty elan, underscored by Evian’s longstanding partnerships with marquee tennis tournaments.

“The French chicness Evian conveys very much aligns with the ethos of the fashion industry,” he noted. “Being part of that culture only helps us to build equity, and the preference for our brand.”

Headquartered near Évian-les-Bains, France, where its famous water is sourced, Evian became a certified B Corp in 2021, regarded as a gold standard for sustainable companies.

Evian has committed to become a fully circular brand by 2025, by which time it will make all its plastic bottles from 100 percent recycled materials, and keep plastic out of nature.

In support of the capsule drop, Balmain and Evian also hosted a party in New York City attended by the likes of Alton Mason and Natalie Lim Suarez.

Balmain is operating a pop-up in Montecito, California, until April 27. Located in the Rosewood Miramar resort, the temporary installation takes over its beach bar and bungalow to showcase the Balmain x Evian capsule and items from Balmain’s summer collection.