Olivier Rousteing Designs Whiskey Bottles for Chivas

After realizing why Chivas XV was such a singularly delicate and refined 15-year-old Scottish whiskey, Olivier Rousteing's goal was above all to ensure that the design of the bottle indicated as clearly as possible that it contained something rare and of great value. He then worked with his Balmain team to enact such a vision, including details like the emblematic chain that will decorate one of the bottles. "A solid shield for an important creation which is really worth protecting," explained the designer, who has just celebrated 10 years as artistic director of Balmain.

The Chivas collaboration consists of two models of limited edition bottles. The first is adorned with metallic armor and chains in a nod to recent catwalk pieces, while the second brings Balmain's iconic silhouettes and playful symmetry to life. “I wanted to push Chivas into the couture world,” said Rousteing. We can recognize his influence particularly in the grids, which recall the embroidery of his dresses, and obviously the black and gold, but also the military aesthetic, a nod to the Balmain Army.

“I've always been a fan of everything that is uniform," he said. "From the button through the badges, the logo of the bottle, in the form of a blazon with the grid and the chains, the aesthetic is found in a certain way on all my bags, jackets and shoes.” 200 of the limited edition bottles will be available by lottery, while the other 400 will be on sale at the Galeries Lafayette on the Champs Elysées.

Since his appointment as the head of Balmain launched him to fame, Olivier Rousteing has never ceased to surprise the world, not only with his talent but also with his extraordinary personality. A Netflix special is even devoted to him, a sort of catharsis for the designer and the character he had created for himself.

"It allowed me to reveal myself with much less modesty, to tell my story, and not only that of Balmain, but also of the boy behind Balmain. It was important for me to show this side, because we often get the impression of knowing people through social networks or magazines. I don't spend all my time surrounded by celebrities drinking champagne in Los Angeles; there is still behind it all a great loneliness, a desire to be alone, to be able to recharge my batteries. As I said in the documentary, my life is made of noise and silence."

Among his projects is a collaboration with a British chain, which will give him the opportunity to debut his work in a different way, other than through a runway show. This launch will feature a video on Instagram for the advertising campaign. “I wanted to share my fashion through real and fictional characters. Fictitious because I created them with my team, but also real because it responds to a generation that dreams and that suffers, a generation that has hope for a better world.”

The campaign includes four characters, who are for Rousteing emblematic of our society, who fight to be free of themselves. All are, of course, dressed in Balmain Fall/Winter 2021 and 2022, "to also give Balmain another interaction, that the house is not always put in this box of men or women fatales, but also that it speak to a generation which fights, which reflects the fights that I lead."

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