For Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain, the Parisian luxury house, South Africa is far from home. But the country is close to his heart.
“My passport is French,” Rousteing, 38, said during a phone call from Paris. “But my blood is African,” added the designer, who discovered relatively late in life that he is of Somali and Ethiopian descent.
South Africa’s coastal Western Cape region provided inspiration for Mr. Rousteing: A Balmain collection developed in collaboration with Disney to promote the 30th anniversary of “The Lion King,” released in June 1994.
The project was a kind of spiritual homecoming for the designer, but also the realization of a childhood fantasy. Mr. Rousteing was 9 when he first saw the film. It taught him some valuable lessons. “Don’t take anything for granted,” he said. “On your journey there will be obstacles and challenges, but trust yourself, never give up.”
His limited-edition collection, influenced by artisanal African textiles, patterns and silhouettes, was designed to reflect the characters and pervasive themes of the film. The ready-to-wear and couture pieces – including zebra-striped coats and jackets, a raffia dress with dense fringes and a bustier dress patterned with famous ‘Lion King’ characters – will be showcased in a short film shoot near Cape Town, featuring models from across Africa.
Items from the Balmain-Disney joint venture, the first of its kind, start at $450; Couture clothing is priced upon request. The collection will be sold from July 8 by Balmain and at department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Harrods in London.
The “Lion King” Balmain line is one of several initiatives promoting the film’s milestone year. A live anniversary concert featuring original voice actors and new artists, including North West, took place in Los Angeles last month, and there are plans to re-release the animated film theatrically in July, ahead of the planned December release of a new live action prequel. : “Mufasa: The Lion King.”
Fashion offers fans another way to engage with the film, said Tasia Filippatos, president of Disney’s consumer products division, whose previous design partnerships include Supreme, Givenchy, Gucci and Christian Louboutin. She added that Mr. Rousteing’s “personal history” with the film made him an “organic fit.”
Mr. Rousteing, whose previous collaborations include a Barbie partnership with Mattel in 2022, is well aware of the commercial potential of such pop culture ventures.
“You introduce new landscapes, new cultures and fashion to people who don’t know Balmain,” he said. To remain relevant, he added, “the house must be a witness of its time.”
Still preppy after all these years
Comeback is a word that makes Steven Stolman cringe. But Mr. Stolman, a former Lilly Pulitzer designer who started his own label before leaving fashion to work in interior design, returns to his original métier this summer with a new line for J. McLaughlin, another long-associated brand with elevated preppy chic.
The small collection, called RSVP, will be sold at J. McLaughlin stores on Manhattan’s Upper East Side; in Southampton, NY; in Newport, RI; and in Edgartown, Massachusetts, on Martha’s Vineyard.
It is built around uncomplicated eveningwear, a category well known to Mr. Stolman, whose signature was the kind of floating taffeta skirt often seen at garden parties. Many of his creations for J. McLaughlin, which also include cotton shorts ($248) and bustiers ($298), are reminiscent of the attire society wears poolside in Slim Aaron’s photos.
Mr. Stolman’s new venture took root shortly after he called Kevin McLaughlin, co-founder and creative director of J. McLaughlin, to offer to create a line for the brand. Mr. McLaughlin, once a friendly competitor to Mr. Stolman, said he saw it as an opportunity to “cover a part of the customer’s closet that we don’t currently cover.”
He added that Mr. Stolman understood J. McLaughlin’s aesthetic and how to bring the customer as “close to fashion as she wanted without taking her over the edge.”
Mr. Stolman’s understanding of that fine line is evident in the skirts he designs for his RSVP collection, which are made to “catch the wind when a woman moves,” he said, “and which, of course, have pockets .’
“I make sure they can hold a smartphone and a lipstick,” he added.
