Balmain Is Making Its Fashion Show Livestream Shoppable

THEN AND NOW: Heritage can’t wait these days. Olivier Rousteing, who dipped into the Pierre Balmain archives and revived a monogram jacquard from the Seventies for a foldable clutch, will offer the bag for instant purchase during the livestream of his spring 2021 Balmain show on Wednesday night in Paris.

Those viewing the show on Instagram Live will be able to click directly on the item for immediate purchase, or save for later. The new functionality is to remain after the show on Balmain’s IGTV.

The house also conscripted creative agency Mazarine to oversee the livestream of the show on its home page with the same ability to click and purchase the bag right away. The leather-trimmed and leather-lined bag with chunky gold hardware, which transforms into a tote, retails for 2,800 euros and is just arriving in Balmain boutiques.

Balmain’s creative director has been making backward glances as the French fashion house marks its 75th anniversary year. The foldable clutch is part of its 1945 bag collection. Over the summer he sent a barge down the Seine River in Paris loaded with a vignette of archival pieces from Pierre Balmain and his design successors Erik Mortensen and Oscar de la Renta, iconic looks from Rousteing’s reign at the French house, and a mélange of recent collections to proclaim the brand DNA.

Word has it Wednesday night’s coed show, set in a Paris park, will open with a heritage moment, choreographed by fashion curator and historian Olivier Saillard.

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