MODEL ARMY: Kendall Jenner kept on the blonde wig she wore for Balmain’s fashion show — sparking a social media firestorm — during the house’s after party Thursday night at Lapérouse. She was flanked by a brunette Gigi Hadid.
“I was so proud of Kendall,” Kris Jenner said of her daughter. “It was a surprise. I didn’t know she was going to be blonde, and I didn’t know she was going to open and close the show. I thought she looked great. It’s so much fun to see the artistic direction of the show. When she walked away. I didn’t realized how tiny her waist was. I said to Kanye [West]: ‘Look at her waist. It’s so tiny. She’s definitely a Balmain girl.'”
Earlier in the evening, the Jenner family dined at the Hôtel Costes, popped into a dinner with family hairstylist Jen Atkin then headed to the art-stuffed 18th-century restaurant for the Balmain party.
“Last year, I think we closed the place down until the wee hours of the morning,” Jenner said.
Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing welcomed models who also included Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Karlie Kloss, Lindsey Wixson, Nadja Bender, Joan Smalls, Cindy Bruna and Lily Donaldson, many of whom still wore their wigs.
Jessica Alba is no stranger to shifting hair color. “I’ve been very blonde,” she said, referring to her look for a part in “Fantastic Four.”
“It was to play on characters,” Rousteing said. “[Balmain models] are all strong personalities. They play and change characters. Some models preferred to keep their natural hair.”
“Can you breathe?” he asked a model sporting one of his creations strikingly paired with thigh-high boots. “It’s interesting to play with waists and shapes.”
Bruna, who calls Rousteing her “brother,” was wearing a tight-waisted Balmain dress. “I don’t plan to sit down, so I’ll be fine,” she said with a laugh.
The model is to walk the Redemption and Elie Saab shows, among others, and has been racking up campaigns of late. These include an ad for Chanel’s Chance fragrance, H&M and Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat, alongside Cara Delevingne. Bruna also has her first cinema gig, with Luc Besson.
“It was a very great experience. He’s cool,” she said, keeping mum on further details. “I take acting classes and love it.”
For her part, Kloss was dressed more casually, sporting Stan Smiths. “You’ve got to dance the night away,” she reasoned.
Rousteing expressed his excitement about the upcoming opening of Balmain’s first Stateside store, a boutique at 100 Wooster Street in New York, and expansion into Asia. But prior to that, he plans to go on holiday — most likely to Bali — once Paris Fashion Week wraps up.
“I want to detox, do some meditation and breath,” he said. “I do Ashtanga yoga, plus boxing every morning. I need it.”
Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis was among the guests slaloming through the crush on the restaurant’s narrow staircase and numerous small salons that once served as haunts for clandestine encounters. The son of Daniel Day-Lewis and Isabelle Adjani plans to attend Givenchy.
“I am going with my friend Bradley Cooper to see his girlfriend Irina Shayk, who’s to walk the show,” he said. “She is a bomb.”