At Balmain, designer Olivier Rousteing recognized before much of the fashion establishment that Hollywood’s new power brokers were not just movie stars but reality TV and social media personalities. He ultimately became one himself as an early adopter of Instagram, which made him one of the most recognizable creative directors of his generation. Can he strike pop culture gold again in his new gig at Rabanne? Plus: Zendaya’s epic “The Odyssey” red carpet goddess style; Gucci’s 2026 LACMA Art + Film honorees; and Erewhon’s new $12 “Sacred” water with Jolie.
Olivier Rousteing Revs Up Rabanne
Get ready to start seeing a lot more chain mail on the red carpet.
Olivier Rousteing has been appointed the new creative director of Rabanne. The luxury fashion brand was founded in 1966 by Paco Rabanne, one of the definitive designers of the Space Age, who used unconventional materials like metal, plastic, paper and chain mail, and designed costumes for film, including Jane Fonda’s in the 1968 sci-fi fantasy “Barbarella.”
The designer arrives after spending the last 14 years at French luxury brand Balmain, where he gave the brand a distinct body-con identity and his embrace of celebrity and social media shook up the industry. Can he do it again?
Rousteing recognized before much of the fashion establishment that Hollywood’s new power brokers were not just movie stars but reality TV and social media personalities. Ultimately, he became one himself as an early adopter of Instagram, which made him one of the most recognizable creative directors of his generation, with 9.4 million followers.
Like Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, Rousteing gave Kim Kardashian the high fashion stamp of approval as a muse and a friend, beginning in 2013 after they met at the Met Gala. And she became central to the rise of the Balmain Army. The Kardashian-West family fronted Balmain campaigns, dominated the front rows of runway shows, and Rousteing appeared on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”
Kim hasn’t been to a Balmain show since 2023 (her last high-profile Paris Fashion Week appearance in 2025 had her walking the Balenciaga runway for Demna’s final couture show). But she did wear a custom Balmain gown by Rousteing, one of fashion’s too few Black creative directors, to last year’s Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala, which raises money to support Black-owned businesses.
Rousteing also counts Beyoncé as a muse, having designed her 2018 Coachella stage costumes, inspired by historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), military uniforms, ancient Egypt and Black empowerment. He then tapped her to collaborate on 17 Balmain couture looks inspired by her 2023 “Renaissance” album. She has continued to be loyal, wearing Balmain as recently as the 2026 Met Gala.
One of Rousteing’s other big achievements at Balmain was bringing back haute couture after a 16-year lull, and he could do the same at Rabanne, which hasn’t shown a couture collection since 2000, when the brand’s namesake retired.
It’s also notable that Rousteing was early to fashion’s foray into film with his César Award-nominated 2019 documentary “Wonder Boy,” directed by Anissa Bonnefont, widening his popularity beyond fashion.
The film offered a tender portrait of his life, chronicling his rise at Balmain, his recovery from a devastating accident, and his emotional search for his biological parents. Perhaps a follow-up could document his rise at Rabanne, air on Amazon, and coincide with the release of a fragrance created under Rousteing’s direction, in a high-low marketing move that capitalizes on his fame and Rabanne’s powerful beauty business?
Overseen by Julien Dossena for the last 13 years, Rabanne has seen its share of new celebrity fans, including Sabrina Carpenter and Dua Lipa. It also became the first Puig-owned brand to surpass $1 billion in sales, lifted mostly by fragrance. Dossena’s ready-to-wear collections were consistently innovative, but he was relatively unknown outside of fashion circles.
It will be interesting to see how Rousteing will envision the future of the brand, and what part Hollywood and technology might play in it. He’s stepping into a crowded field of buzzy new creative directors, and the money to compete in the celebrity dressing game is considerable, with Chanel and Dior spending millions on Hollywood ambassadors and campaigns.
But Rabanne parent company Puig is no financial slouch, and Rousteing still has a high profile and powerful friends. What he could do with the brand in film, TV and costume is particularly exciting, and could help sell the beauty products that power the bottom line.
“For me, fashion is about emotion, identity and the confidence to express who we truly are,” Rousteing wrote on Instagram. “That belief feels deeply connected to Paco Rabanne and his enduring legacy while shaping a future that is bold, inspiring and open to new possibilities.”
His first ready-to-wear runway collection will debut in March 2027.
Zendaya’s Epic Goddess Style
Christopher Nolan’s historical fantasy epic “The Odyssey” opens to global anticipation on Friday, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, Elliot Page as Sinon, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Zendaya as the goddess Athena and many more.
Even before the overwhelmingly positive reviews started rolling out, Zendaya was already giving us reason to ponder the visual style of the film and its potential impact.
With the help of her stylist and “method” red carpet dressing auteur Law Roach, Zendaya has dazzled in one all-white goddess look after another during the press tour, mixing archival pieces with custom and couture, and topping it off at Tuesday’s New York premiere with a white-hot winged gown by buzzy Paris brand Matières Fécales.
For a Paris photo call, she wore an archival spring 1997 Givenchy dress with dramatic sleeves and a mythology all its own. The dress was designed by the late Alexander McQueen, whose debut collection for the French fashion house was inspired by another epic story, “The Search for the Golden Fleece,” in which Athena also plays a role. Zendaya accessorized it with the incredible gold headdress created for the runway by Philip Treacy.
For the Paris premiere later that night, Zendaya’s custom white lace Louis Vuitton gown with keyhole cutout was one of the prettiest designs to come out of the house in years.
Zendaya has also turned heads in more casual moments, styling a short, pleated spring 2008 Alberta Ferretti mini dress with cascading metallic gold chain detailing with one of the early 2000s’ trendiest boho goddess styles, gladiator sandals. If Zendaya can’t bring them back, no one can.
Let’s hope “The Odyssey” designer Ellen Mirojnick’s onscreen costumes for the goddess Athena are equally captivating.
LACMA 2026 Art+Film Gala Honorees
“Dune” director Denis Villeneuve and artist Vija Celmins, who share a passion for finding the sublime in vast, sometimes inhospitable landscapes, will be the 2026 honorees at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s 15th Art+Film Gala on Nov. 7.
LACMA trustee Eva Chow and actor Leonardo DiCaprio are returning as gala co-chairs, and Gucci as presenting sponsor, which it has been from the beginning.
“This year, we are honoring two icons of visual creativity. Whether in painting, drawing, printmaking, or other media, Vija Celmins’ exacting renderings of the natural world blend realism and imagination, resulting in sublimely beautiful works,” LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director Michael Govan said. “Likewise, Denis Villeneuve’s meticulously crafted worlds give his films an unforgettable visual impact, from contemplative and cerebral stories to global blockbusters.”
Villeneuve is the Oscar-nominated director, screenwriter, and producer of “Sicario,” “Blade Runner 2049” and the “Dune” trilogy. The November LACMA event will be followed by the release of “Dune: Part Three” in December, so Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya could well make an appearance at the gala. Villeneuve is also set to direct the next James Bond film for Amazon MGM Studios.
Celmins is known for her renderings of ocean waves, desert floors, and night skies. She began working in the 1960s, painting the objects in her Los Angeles studio before turning her attention to photographs found in magazines and history books for inspiration. By the end of the 1960s, she moved to working in graphite on paper. When she began painting again in the 1980s, drawing and printmaking remained central to her work, which has been featured in solo shows at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and many more.
Proceeds from the annual Art+Film Gala help fund LACMA exhibitions, acquisitions and educational programming exploring the intersection of art and film. The 2025 gala raised $6.5 million.
The $12 “Sacred Water” That’s Selling Out at Erewhon
Erewhon, the beloved L.A. grocery store where you never have paid so much to eat so little, has collaborated on beverages with a number of wellness brands in recent years, including Hailey Bieber’s Rhode, Marianna Hewitt’s Summer Fridays and Vacation, maker of my favorite throwback sunscreen Orange Gelée.
For its latest trick, Erewhon has partnered with water-filtering showerhead purveyor Jolie on a $12 “Sacred Water,” made using a clarifying method usually reserved for high-end cocktails, according to press materials. Drawing inspiration from holy water, the tonic celebrates it as something to cherish, honor and share. Of course, I had to try it.
I stopped by the Tonic Bar at the Beverly Hills Erewhon before 8 a.m. and was told by the tonic tender that the water had been selling out so fast, she’d need to check in the back to see if any more had come in. A few minutes later, she appeared with a large plastic pouch reminiscent of an IV bag, full of Sacred Water.
My small cup filled, I pressed a straw inside and took a sip. If you have ever dreamt of mixing coconut water and white grape juice, this is indeed your holy grail. The 8-ounce drink also contains anise hyssop, holy basil, jasmine tea, coconut milk, raw honey and green cardamom.
It was refreshing, if a bit tart, and not nearly as botanical tasting as I’d hoped. I had to wonder if the ice cubes, presumably not made of Sacred Water, ruined the effect. The water also had some serious competition, however.
Just the day before I drank from the famed water fountain at the Visitors Center at Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park. Coming from the same Sierra snow melt that feeds the grove’s giant sequoias, that delicious sacred water had devotees of its own lined up to fill their bottles. For free.
If you can’t make it to Yosemite, Jolie’s Sacred Water is available at Erewhon stores through Sept. 30. Either way, your cup runneth over.
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