A New French Style, Part 3: Beaton, Society and Balmain

Beaton, Society and BalmainSeated in the front row of the first Balmain show, alongside his friends Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, was the fascinating English Renaissance man, Cecil Beaton. The author and film director Lisa Immordino-Vreeland joins this episode of l’Atelier Balmain to discuss the fascinating life and work of Beaton. Immordino Vreeland, known for her prizewinning documentaries about some of the 20th-Century’s most talented forces in art, creation and fashion, recently focused on Beaton for her third film and second book—both titled Love Cecil—and she shares insights on his life, philosophy and creations with the podcast. From the moment he saw his first Balmain designs, Cecil Beaton began forming an important connection to the house—in fact, almost immediately after that premiere show, Beaton began to promote the young Pierre Balmain to key members of London and Paris society. Lynn Yaeger returns to the podcast to discuss some of the English, French and American aristocratic and upper-class personalities who were quick to adopt Balmain’s fresh, feminine silhouette—and, just as one might expect, Yaeger is also happy to share the scandals and background stories connected to each of those colorful personalities. While we explore how post-war society was quick to embrace Balmain, we also highlight how Olivier Rousteing cleverly appropriates society’s codes and signatures for today’s modern vision of luxury and class that speaks to our age — and the