Balmain opens Manhattan flagship

After becoming a fashion favorite of socialite and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West, Balmain has decided it was time to capitalize on their momentum in the United States. The luxury label has opened their first 2150-square-foot store in SoHo at 100 Wooster Street.

To christen the new store, creative director Olivier Rousteing plans to have a party on May 2 the day after the Met Ball.

The goal for the U.S. store is to offer customers more options than they would get from wholesale channels. Specific sales figure goals for the store are not being given at this time.

The store was designed by architects Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier of Studio KO, who took inspiration from Pierre Balmain's midcentury vacation home on Elba. The new space is designed as a series of four rooms reminiscent of Balmain's Paris and London flagships. The store features the brand's men's, women's, footwear, accessories, and children's collections.

Odes to the Paris flagship store include interior details like mirror, gold, and brass among clean white rooms. A room lined in smoke mirrors is where transactions take place. Other interior design details include floors made of broken pieces of beige marble with black shards that were put together like a puzzle, and a replica of a Greek goddess picked up at a flea market in Paris.

Balmain arrives in New York City

Men's wear items include offerings like the Perfecto jacket priced at 5275 dollars, black unlined cashmere jackets for 3675 dollars, and biker jeans for 1060 dollars. Women's offerings include offerings like the Perfecto suede jacket for 5210 dollars, suede jogging pants for 4405 dollars, and a red silk halter top decorated with starfish rhinestones priced at 3596 dollars.

This year, Balmain is working on growing their accessories category. Leather and suede handbags are becoming major for the brand, with price points for the bags at 4875 dollars.

The new store also has a VIP dressing room for those super exclusive clients. Balmain will close the store for VIPs who request it.

Balmain has seen excellent growth in the U.S. thanks to its wholesale partners including Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, and Neiman Marcus.

According to Emmanuel Dimoz, Balmain's chief executive officer, the U.S. was once only 9 percent of Balmain's business, now it's 18 percent. Dimoz hopes to get that figure to around 25 percent, and believes that Rousteing's alignment with celebrities like the Kardashians will aid in this business plan.

Balmain's H&M collaboration also brought the brand greater visibility in both America and the overall global market. While there are currently no plans to open another Balmain boutique, Los Angeles is being eyed as the next option for a new store.

Currently, Balmain has 17 directly owned stores across the globe in cities such as Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Dubai.

Earlier this week, FashionUnited reported that Balmain could be bought by Valentino for 500 million euros. Valentino, which is owned by the Qatari royal family, was one of the three companies to put in offers to buy Balmain. The other two were an unnamed Chinese group and an unnamed American investor.

Neither Valentino or Balmain has made comment regarding the issue, so the future of the brand could be up in the air. Presently, it's all just speculation.

photo:balmain.com