Balmain’s design director Olivier Rousteing is well aware of celebrities' far-reaching influence. And he also knows that his circle of famous friends is a contributing factor to the fashion house’s increasing success—even if it causes the haters to surface.
In an interview with i-D magazine, the 28-year-old designer discussed why he surrounds himself with women like Kim Kardashian and her mother, Kris Jenner, despite the widespread consensus that they’re talentless celebrities who are just famous for being famous.
“[Kris is] really open-minded and she's always keeping her eyes on the new world and what's gonna happen. She's not a follower,” Rousteing said of the reality show matriarch. “I challenge everybody to stay in front of the camera an entire day and actually make their life interesting. That's called talent."
Rousteing went on to say that he believes women run everything, which is why he’s always seen palling around with stars like Rihanna, Naomi Campbell, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley—ladies who have embraced their femininity while also building successful careers. However, when it comes to Kim, he realizes that there is a lot more backlash she has to combat in order to be taken seriously, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a force to be reckoned with. Especially since she has married an equally polarizing celebrity, Kanye West.
"If you wanna be blind, you're gonna be blind. If you don't wanna see the power of the couple and the power of what they give to the world today, it's fine. I don't care," he says. “Today, dressing Kim is like opening the door to fashion to different people. If we work on the same front row for the next five years without having anybody that can actually communicate something to people that aren't already inside the room, fashion is gonna die."
