Pierre Balmain

For more information on Pierre-Alexandre-Claudius Balmain, visit Britannica.com.

• Born: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie, 18 May 1914.
• Education: Studied architecture, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1933-34.
• Military Service: French Air Force, 1936-38, French Army Pioneer Corps, 1939-40.
• Career: Freelance sketch artist for Robert Piguet, Paris, 1934; assistant designer, Molyneux, Paris, 1934-38; designer, Lucien Lelong, Paris, 1939, 1941-45; founder/director, Maison Balmain, Paris, 1945-1982, Balmain Fashions, New York, 1951-55, Balmain Fashions, Caracas, 1954; director, Balmain S.A., Paris, 1977-82; ready-to-wear line launched, 1982; fragrances include Vent Vert, 1945, Jolie Madame, 1953, Miss Balmain, 1967, and Ivoire, 1980; fragrance business purchased by Revlon, 1960; also designed for the stage and films, from 1950. Company continued on after his death in 1982.
• Exhibitions:Pierre Balmain: 40 années de création, Musée de la Mode et du Costume, Palais Galliera, Paris, 1985-86.
• Awards: Neiman Marcus award, Dallas, 1955; Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, Copenhagen, 1963; Cavaliere Ufficiale del Merito Italiano, Rome, 1966; Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, 1978; Vermillion Medal, City of Paris.
• Died: 29 June 1982, in Paris.
• Company Address: 44 rue François-1er, 75008 Paris, France.

French couturier Pierre Balmain believed "dressmaking is the architecture of movement." His mission, as he saw it, was to beautify the world like an architect, and the relationship between architecture and couture was emphasized throughout Balmain's career. He initially studied to be an architect, yet the beauty of couture, Balmain often argued, was when it was brought to life on the human form. He also believed "nothing is more important in a dress than its construction."

The House of Balmain opened, with great acclaim from the fashion press, in 1945. Alice B. Toklas wrote, "A dress is to once more become a thing of beauty, to express elegance and grace." Prior to opening his own house, Balmain apprenticed with couturier Edward Molyneux, in Paris, for five years. These years with Molyneux taught him about the business of couture, as Molyneux was at the height of his success during this time. Balmain defined him as a true creator and learned about the elegance of simplicity from Molyneux, which was so evident in Balmain's later designs under his own name.

After leaving Molyneux, Balmain joined the firm of Lucien Lelong, where he worked from 1939 to 1944 off and on during the war and the German Occupation. In 1941 the House of Lelong reopened and Balmain returned to work with a newly hired designer, Christian Dior. Balmain credited himself with the now famous "New Look" and cited his first collection (1945), pictured in American Vogue, as evidence. These designs did illustrate the feminine silhouette of longer, bell-shaped, higher bustlines, narrow shoulders, and smaller waists. The collections of Jacques Fath and Balenciaga were also reflective of the New Look silhouette with which Christian Dior was ultimately credited.

Balmain believed that the ideal of elegance in clothing was achieved only through simplicity. He detested ornamentation for the sake of making a garment spectacular and offended the American fashion press by stating that Seventh Avenue fashion was vulgar. As a couturier he was not interested in fashion per se; rather he sought to dress women who appreciated an elegant appearance and possessed sophisticated style. Balmain once said, "Keep to the basic principles of fashion and you will always be in harmony with the latest trends without falling prey to them."

The basic Balmain silhouette for day was slim, with evening being full-skirted. He was credited with the popularization of the stole as an accessory for both day and evening. Balmain also used fur as trim throughout his collections. He was also remembered for his exquisite use of embroidered fabrics for evening.

After the war, Balmain toured the world giving lectures on the virtues of French fashion. He promoted the notion that French couture defined the ideal of elegance and refinement; his visits and lectures were intended to revive French haute couture, which had been virtually shut down during the war. As a result of Balmain's tours, he recognized the potential of the American market and opened a boutique in New York, offering his distinctly French fashions.

Balmain was one of the few French couturiers of his generation to also design for the theatre, ballet, and cinema, as well as for royalty. He was commissioned by Queen Sirikit of Thailand in 1960 to design her wardrobe for her official visit to the United States.

When Pierre Balmain died in 1982, his standards of elegance were still highly regarded in the world of couture. The tradition continued with Erik Mortensen, who had been with the company since the late 1940s, as head designer. In the late 1980s German-born Canadian financier Erich Fayer bought Ted Lapidus and perfumer Jacomo, then set his sights on Balmain. Fayer, along with Copeba, a Belgian investment firm, bought Balmain for around $30 million, which included reclaiming its fragrances from Revlon.

Fayer and Copeba soon parted ways after financial disputes and Fayer aggressively licensed the Balmain name, marketing champagne, rugs, furnishings, and virtually anything that could be sold under the Balmain brand. Balmain lost much of its cache, as well as many of its loyal customers and was put up for sale in 1989. Alain Chevalier bought Balmain in 1990 and brought in Hervé Pierre to lead the design team. After substantial losses and charges he looted the company of its assets, Fayer repurchased Balmain.

By late 1992 Balmain was poised for a welcome resurgence when American Oscar de la Renta was named its head designer. A star-studded gala in Paris marked de la Renta's official ascension to the post in January 1993, and his first collection for Balmain debuted the following February to rave reviews. Could an American designer bring the French Balmain back to its former glory in haute couture? Martha Duffy, writing for Time magazine in February 1993 said it succinctly, "If Balmain wants to catch up to the 1990s without leaping into the 21st century, the house made a very shrewd choice."

Balmain under the direction of de la Renta is a different couture house than when Pierre was at the helm, yet enduringly successful. The timeless elegance of Pierre Balmain's vision, however, lives on.

Publications

By Balmain:

Books
• My Years and Seasons, London, 1964.

On Balmain:

Books
• Latour, Anny, Kings of Fashion, London, 1958.
• Lynam, Ruth, ed., Paris Fashion: The Great Designers and Their Creations, London, 1972.
• Milbank, Caroline Rennolds, Couture: The Great Designers, New York, 1985.
• Musée de la Mode et du Costume, Pierre Balmain: 40 années de création, Paris, 1985.
• Maeder, Edward, et al, Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film, New York, 1987.
• Guillen, Pierre-Yves, and Jacqueline Claude, The Golden Thimble: French Haute Couture, Paris, 1990.
• Stegemeyer, Anne, Who's Who in Fashion, Third Edition, New York, 1996.

Articles
• Verdier, Rosy, "Balmain: le décor total," in L'Officiel (Paris), April 1985.
• "Le point sur les collections: Pierre Balmain," in L'Officiel (Paris), March 1986.
• Janssen, Brigid, "A Fashionable Canadian Connection: Pierre Balmain's New Ownership," in Maclean's, 16 November 1987.
• Duffy, Martha, "Mais oui! Oscar," in Time, 8 February 1993.
• Bowles, Hamish, "Well Suited: Balmain Collection by Oscar de laRenta," in Vogue, May 1993.
• Moukheiber, Zina, "The Face Behind the Perfume: Eric Fayer, Owner of Pierre Balmain," in Forbes, 27 September 1993.

— MargoSeaman; updated by NellyRhodes

Pierre Balmain and the actress Ruth Ford, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1947

Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain (b. Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie, May 18, 1914 – Paris, France, June 29, 1982) was a French fashion designer. Known for sophistication and elegance, he once said that "dressmaking is the architecture of movement."

Life and career

Balmain's father, who died when the future designer was 7 years old, was the owner of a wholesale drapery business. His mother and her sisters operated a fashion boutique. Balmain studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, but did not complete his studies. He spent his time there designing dresses. While attending the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Balmain went to Molyneux, who promised to give him a trial. Balmain then left his architectural studies to work for the fashion designer Edward Molyneux, for whom he worked from 1934 until 1939. He joined Lucien Lelong after World War II and opened his own fashion house in 1945. The house showcased long bell-shaped skirts with small waists - a line which later became popular as Dior's New Look. In 1951 he opened branches in the United States selling ready-to-wear clothes. During the 1950's, Balmain popularized the stole for day as well as evening wear and created a vogue for sheath dresses beneath jackets. His talent as a designer lay in his ability to make simple, tailored suits as well as grand evening gowns, all with the same aesthetic of slender and elegant lines. Balmain also designed the iconic uniform of the Singapore Airlines Singapore Girl, loosely based on the traditional Malay kebaya.

Balmain also created perfumes, including Vent Vert (1947), his first successful scent and one of the best-selling perfumes of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Jolie Madame (1953), Ivoire (1979), and Eau d'Amazonie (2006). His first perfume, launched in 1947, bore his company's address, Elysées 64-83.

Balmain was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design for Happy New Year (1980). Additional Broadway theatre credits include costumes for Sophia Loren in The Millionairess (1960) and Josephine Baker for her eponymous 1964 revue. He also was a costume designer for 16 films, including the Brigitte Bardot vehicle And God Created Woman, and designed on-screen wardrobes for the actresses Vivien Leigh and Mae West.

Balmain's 1964 autobiography was titled My Years and Seasons.

His companion was the Danish designer Erik Mortensen, who worked as a designer at Balmain from 1948 until 1991. Also the later very successful Danish fashion designer Margit Brandt worked as a young designer with Pierre Balmain in the early 1960's.

Balmain was mentioned in Peter Sarstedt's 1969 hit song "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)".

Awards
Preceded by Patricia Zipprodt for King of Hearts	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design 1979-1980 for Happy New Year	Succeeded by Patricia McGourty for The Pirates of Penzance

See also

• Balmain (fashion house)

External links

• House of Balmain
• Internet Broadway Database listing
• Sewing patterns by Pierre Balmain
• "Pierre Balmain - Dress & Petticoat". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/exhibHighBalmain.php. Retrieved 2007-11-13. 
• "Interactive timeline of couture houses and couturier biographies". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/explore.php. 

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