Less than a week before Paris Fashion Week, Balmain’s creative director, Olivier Rousteing, shared on Instagram that nearly 50 pieces from the brand’s upcoming collection had been stolen from a truck en route from the airport to Balmain headquarters.
On Wednesday, Balmain showcased its spring 2024 collection, and the Cut’s fashion critic, Cathy Horyn, spoke to Rousteing backstage about the heist: “We re-created about 70 percent of the stolen pieces,” said the designer. Ten days before the collection was to be shown, Rousteing came to the office to start working on the looks. “Around 3 p.m., my production director came in and said, ‘DHL is not here.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s always late.’ And she told me, ‘No, it’s not late. It’s been hijacked.’”
Rousteing said the police had recovered three out of the 50 boxes, though they did not give them back as they were checking for fingerprints. As of today, he still hadn’t gotten any updates from the police. He does know that the robbers were wearing hoods and took mostly tailoring, denim, and jersey.
“To be honest, I haven’t spoken to them again because I was really focusing on my show,” said Rousteing. “What I think is important to understand is that I got many letters of love from other designers. What [some] of them said was, ‘Olivier, what you’re going through is the nightmare of any designer.’”
Brands like Jacquemus and celebrities from Jodie Turner to Donatella Versace showed support for Rousteing and the brand, with the latter commenting, “Sending you all my love. I know that you and your creativity will be able to overcome this!”
Meanwhile, fashion fans are puzzling over the bizarre nature of the crime and pondering what the motivation could be for stealing clothes that have not yet hit the runway (or the market, for that matter). It’s not like the thief can sell them, as one user on the social network formerly known as Twitter points out: “Seriously though tf are these people gonna do with the stolen Balmain pieces … selling them would be like turning yourself in.” So what exactly does the sticky-fingered hypebeast have in mind, and will we be seeing those stolen pieces again? This mystery feels far from over.