So… Olivier Rousteing‘s famous Balmain Army have taken a new form, and they may look real, but they are actually CGI (computer generated imagrey) models!
First off, before we dive into this gist proper, you need to understand what Balmain’s Creative Director Olivier Rousteing has been able to achieve since taking over the reigns from his predecessor, and why this move by the very influential French fashion house could mark the beginning of something new for the fashion industry.
Olivier Rousteing became the creative director for Balmain in 2011, and since that time, has been able to put the exclusive and elite fashion house on the map, both digitally and amongst our favourite celebrities.
The first thing he did was win over the Kardashians. Those ones became his town criers on social media.
Then he somehow convinced Rihanna (!) to model his design.
Then he brought three of the world’s supermodels, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer together for a campaign.
And let’s NOT forget that Queen Bey has been wearing Balmain designs since #Beychella and now for #OTRII
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlQCcEuAfLZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Since you now have a little idea how influential Balmain is in the industry, you can get why this move is monumental, because it can set precedence for most of the other smaller fashion houses.
So.. what exactly did Balmain do?
In a move to represent their work more digitally, they opted for CGI models, instead of real life humans, which is f*cking wild to me because these b*tches look REAL.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnGj9H8gzKd/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=iuft7eiibiwm
The mashup of race is cool because the Balmain army have always been a very diverse bunch.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnG5m2mAj-T/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=2r84m7hn394a
Shudu is a black 3D model that was created by a British photographer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnI9GpBAGo6/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=y5c9mcmmfwr4
This is Zhi.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnOr8qfAfJU/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=423butxtie00
This is Margot.
There was a lot of diverse reactions to this and they ranged from admiration to rage.
While some people expressed their disgust over the fact that a digital version of a black model was being used instead of actual black women who struggle to get recognition in the industry, others praised him for championing black beauty.
The ultimate vitriol was targeted at the creator of Shudu, who is a British photographer by black Twitter, because, once again, a white man benefits from the black skin.
Meanwhile, a statement released to announce the campaign explained that… “Anyone and everyone is always welcome to join Balmain army’s growing ranks – they need only share our bold spirit of adventure as our new virtual icons, Margot, Shudu and Zhi who mirror the beauty, the rock style and the confident power.”