“Practice makes perfect” is one of the many expressions that don’t translate all that smoothly into French. Sure, you can try something like “la pratique mène à la perfection” or “l’expérience rend parfait,” but without that short-and-snappy alliteration, I don’t think they’re as forceful or memorable. But, whether you say it in French or English, there is a basic truth behind the saying: it’s the extra effort that ensures that final results are that much better. If there’s one thing that my team and I have had plenty of in recent years, it’s practice.

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Season after season, as interest in Balmain grows, we keep pushing ourselves to keep pace, with collections increasing in size and the number of presentations multiplying. Each time we expand our offerings, it’s not the additional hours and effort that we notice as much as how those new challenges have helped us to refine and reinforce Balmain’s singular silhouette and easily recognized DNA. This week, we’re showing our first Men’s Pre-Fall Collection-and I am certain that the addition of this range will strengthen the house’s entire offerings, just as adding the Balmain Women’s Pre-collections did before that. For Pre-Fall, both our Men’s and Women’s designs riff on familiar signatures: my obsession with music and rock’s incredible style is front and center, as is Balmain’s clear identification with classic Parisian codes.

What I’m most proud of, though, is what all that practice has been pushing us to perfect: these are strong, distinctive and recognizably Balmain collections that have no need to play with whatever might be the season’s latest trends. Shooting these offerings on the Crillon’s terrace, perched above the spectacular Place de la Concorde, not only underlines the house’s deep connection with the French capital-it also reflects our determination to always aim for an elegance that will stand the test of time. Olivier Rousteing Paris 11 December 2017

Courtesy of Balmain