Balmain New Collection Stolen Days Before Its Paris Fashion Week Show

French fashion house Balmain had more than 50 items from its coming collection stolen about a week before the designs were set to be shown in Paris.

Olivier Rousteing, the company’s creative director, said on Instagram Sunday that a vehicle carrying the items was hijacked by several people on its way from the airport to Balmain’s Paris headquarters.

A Balmain spokeswoman said Monday that its September 27 show will go on as scheduled. The fashion house is set to feature pieces at the show from its spring/summer 2024 collection.

A spokesperson for Paris police said an investigation is underway. An official with the prosecutor’s office in Bobigny, France, which is looking into the theft, said Monday it didn’t yet know the extent of the losses.

Rousteing said on Instagram that his team will work days and nights to redo the designs for the show.

“This is so unfair,” he said. “My team and I worked so hard.”

The creative director said he found out about the theft while he was at the office waiting for the show’s final items to arrive. He said the vehicle’s driver was safe.

“This is the world we are living in,” Rousteing said.

Paris has reckoned with a surge in robberies targeting department stores and high-end labels like Balmain, Piaget, and Bulgari. Thieves have stolen expensive clothes, purses, and jewelry likely to sell on the secondhand market. U.S. cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles have dealt with similar robberies.

"It is extremely rare for thieves to target an unseen fashion collection", said Valerie Steele, director of the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

“It’s an absolute tragedy for Olivier and his team,” she said.

Steele pointed out that the theft could generate more publicity for Balmain’s coming show and added the stolen Balmain items likely wouldn’t have labels because they were made for the runway. 

"Still, the pieces would likely have a distinct Balmain look that could make them each worth thousands of dollars on the secondhand market, where it can be hard to trace stolen items, she noted.

Some of the fashion industry’s biggest names sent messages of support to Rousteing on Instagram including, Donatella Versace, the artistic director of Versace, who wrote, “I know that you and your creativity will be able to overcome this!”

Balmain, founded by designer Pierre Balmain in 1945, is known for its extravagant aesthetic and fashion shows. Rousteing became one of the youngest creative directors at a luxury label when in 2011 he took on the role at age 26. The brand under his leadership became popular with celebrities including Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian.