Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain, is well known for his form-cutting tailoring, revealing silhouettes and opulent detailing, but this season he’s ditching high fashion designs to create a line of sportswear. The 30-year-old designer and NikeLab have partnered together to bring us a new collection of posh, ultra-stylish athletic wear. Launching on June 2, the NikeLab x Olivier Rousteing: Football Nouveau, will include a line of men’s and women’s pieces inspired by Rousteing’s love of soccer.
A photo posted by OLIVIER R. (@olivier_rousteing) on May 23, 2016 at 4:49am PDT
“Fashion is usually about the catwalk and the glamour, but with Nike it was about performance and the athletes,” explains Rousteing. “What I love about this collection is that we are integrating the iconic style of football into sport style.” A self-proclaimed sports fan, the designer tapped into traditional styles for French soccer players and combined it with a little of his extravagant aesthetic to create a line both men and women could wear. The collection is entirely in black and gold—mirroring not only his Balmain roots but also signifying the style of the sport. “Black because it’s sleek and chic, and at the same time, timeless. The gold is about victory, it’s about winning,” Rousteing notes.
A photo posted by OLIVIER R. (@olivier_rousteing) on May 23, 2016 at 4:54am PDT
Throughout the design process, Nike designers noted that Rousteing was conscious of the needs of the players first and foremost, asking himself “would a football player really wear that?” during each design review. He kept the collection rooted in the sport and even tapped players like Blaise Matuidi, Laure Boulleau and Christian Ronaldo to star in the campaign. Fan that he is, even Rousteing count’s help from kicking the ball around with a few of soccer’s top stars.
