Throughout 2025, the high-fashion industry has seen multiple changes in creative directors at top fashion houses. French fashion designer Olivier Rousteing is the latest to bow out of his role after 13 years.
He famously created the jaw-dropping sand dress worn by Tyla at last year’s Met Gala and the custom pieces for Beyoncé’s Renaissance album.
We take a look at the legacy of the young designer and moments you may have missed in his colourful career on and off the runway.
Made in Africa
Rousteing only found out about his heritage in the 2019 documentary Wonder Boy. He was adopted at the age of seven, having little memories of his life before the orphanage where he stayed. Speaking to Vogue about meeting his parents for the first time, Rousteing says there were concerns with them being white and him being black.
Tracking his origins in the documentary, he learnt that his mother was Somali and his father Ethiopian. While he was famed for his inclusion of East Asian elements in his collections for Balmain, he also stitched in his new-found roots in later collections.
Cavalli’s little dancer
While interning at Roberto Cavalli, Rousteing sought to make ends meet by becoming a dancer at an undisclosed nightclub in Paris. He said he would hit the clubs in the evening for his shifts and quickly clean up before his job at the revered design house.
Legally Rousteing
While dancing was not a career prospect, Rousteing told Out magazine that law was once an option for the maverick designer. A dream fuelled by his parents, Rousteing struggled with his studies and left only after one month. “I could do it, but it wouldn’t make me happy,” he said.
He then studied fashion but this later also frustrated him. “You are teaching me sh*t,” he said, reflecting on his short time there after being kicked out of classes for misbehaving.
First black and youngest creative director
After the abrupt exit of his predecessor, Christophe Decarnin, at Balmain, Rousteing was made the creative director in his place. Rousteing would shift the aesthetic of the brand into one that would reignite a new era for the design house and its couture offering.
For the love of Fabergé eggs
Rousteing’s tenure would be shaped by his love for 80s-inspired dresses that stemmed from a Fabergé egg he saw at an auction. The egg had been gifted to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton.
The look and the stitching techniques would become synonymous with Rousteing’s detailed and futuristic designs at the fashion house.
The ‘Balmain army’
Along with his signature look, Rousteing built a great following thanks to the “Balmain army” — a bevy of high-profile celebrities who often played muse for his collections and wore Balmain. This included Beyonce, Kim Kardashian and Naomi Campbell .
L’Oreal lips
While fashion may be his bailiwick, Rousteing’s design talents also trickle down to cosmetics, including a L’Oreal lip line inspired by top models of the time.
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