Naomi Campbell Powerfully Closes Balmain’s Menswear Show at Paris Fashion Week

Of the Balmain Menswear Fall 2024 collection, creative director Olivier Rousteing described it by bringing one word to the fore: “Luxury has many meanings,” Rousteing told Vogue about this collection, which debuted yesterday at Paris Fashion Week. “And this is screaming luxury.”

So, in that case, who better to shut the show down than someone who knows luxury well—supermodel Naomi Campbell? Campbell was the only female to take the runway for the presentation, closing the show after 54 mostly maximalist looks. Campbell wore a gold headpiece “that ran vertically down her face, as well as false gold arms connected to a belt which held a metallic bouquet,” The Daily Mail reports. “Naomi looked sensational in the outlandish ensemble, which also featured a daringly plunging blouse and high-waisted trousers.” Campbell completed the look with an oversized camel coat, worn effortlessly over her shoulders.

Campbell later held hands with Rousteing as the show came to a conclusion.

Balmain’s collection was pop art made with AI-generated fabric. Bold though it certainly was, Campbell’s look was cited as one of the show’s more minimalist looks, as “every look down the runway this weekend was bold, futuristic, and head turning.” The collection was an amalgam of pattern mixing, where bold oranges, reds, and purples interfaced with polka dots, stripes, and prints. You can catch the entire show here.

Campbell has a longstanding relationship with Balmain and Rousteing; she appeared in a campaign for the French fashion house for its spring 2022 collection shot by photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. For the campaign, Rousteing said he relished the chance to work with a “mix of legends who have inspired me since childhood, and some of today’s most remarkable new talents.” 

The year prior, also at Paris Fashion Week, Campbell returned to the runway (to feverish screams, no less) to help Rousteing celebrate his 10-year anniversary at the creative helm of Balmain. In 2016, Campbell—as well as fellow supermodels Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer—reunited for its spring 2016 campaign. This campaign was shot by legendary photographer Steven Klein.

“Those four singular talents have inspired me from day one,” Rousteing said in a press release at the time, referring to Campbell, Crawford, Schiffer, and Klein. “When I was a schoolboy in Bordeaux, it was clear their editorials that first made clear to me the amazing transformative power of fashion. Still today, many years on, their iconic images are often found amongst the jumble on mood boards in my (and almost every other designer’s) atelier. To say that working with them was a dream come true is no exaggeration.” 

Afterwards, Rousteing took to Instagram to praise the legends, writing “U made me love FASHION yesterday, U make me love FASHION today, and U re going to make me Love FASHION in the FUTURE,” the designer wrote alongside himself with each of the models individually. “There was never any doubt that the final images would be anything but perfect. Looking at them now, I like to think that perhaps someday these shots might also form part of some future designer’s mood board.”