Balmain’s Upcoming Collection Stolen Ahead of Paris Fashion Week — Retail Bum

French luxury fashion house Balmain has lost several pieces it was planning to showcase at the upcoming Paris Fashion Week after a lorry carrying the brand’s collection was hijacked.

According to Creative Director Olivier Rousteing, the lorry, carrying nearly 50 pieces from the new collection, was robbed between an airport in Paris and the brand’s headquarters in the city.

“We are redoing everything, but this is so disrespectful,” Rousteing said in an Instagram post, adding that the lorry driver was safe and the brand’s suppliers will be working “days and nights” to remake all the stolen pieces.

Despite the setback, the brand plans to reveal its 2024 spring-summer collection on September 27 at the Paris Fashion Week as it had originally planned. The highly awaited nine-day event showcases collections from more than 100 high fashion brands, including Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Saint Laurent.

While Rousteing has not shared any details surrounding the upcoming collection, he has recently been reimagining motifs previously used in the brand’s storied history. For his pre-fall collection, Rousteing drew inspiration from founder Pierre Balmain’s work from the 1960s and ’70s and classic patterns from the brand’s archives, according to CNN.

Balmain, which was founded in 1945, is today majority-owned by Qatari investment fund Mayhoola.

Photo credit: Balmain

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on September 20, 2023.