Balmain Fashion Event at Mandarin Oriental Residences Beverly Hills
Fashion and celebration have always shared a common language. For Balmain’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection, that connection came to life high above Beverly Hills during an intimate evening at Mandarin Oriental Residences.
Hosted inside one of the property’s penthouses, the event brought together Balmain’s VIP clientele, friends of the house, and a cast of models wearing the newest collection. With expansive Los Angeles views and the rooftop pool just beyond, the setting felt distinctly Beverly Hills while maintaining the energy of a private fashion presentation.
Paris Fashion Arrives in Beverly Hills
For the occasion, Olivier Rousteing traveled from Paris with members of his Balmain team to join the celebration personally. The evening offered an opportunity to connect with clients and thank those who had continued to support the French fashion house.
Throughout the penthouse, approximately a dozen male and female models mingled among guests while wearing looks from the collection. Instead of separating fashion from the party with a traditional runway, the evening allowed guests to experience the clothes in motion and at close range.
That approach made the collection feel remarkably alive. Sculptural silhouettes, intricate details, and unmistakable Balmain tailoring moved naturally through the space as conversations and cocktails continued around them.
The Balmain Spring/Summer 2024 Collection
Under Rousteing’s creative direction, the Spring/Summer 2024 collection looked back to the house’s history while feeling unmistakably contemporary. Roses became a defining motif, appearing alongside strong tailoring, dramatic proportions, and vivid color.
Against the clean architecture of Mandarin Oriental Residences, those details became even more striking. The penthouse offered an understated canvas for the collection, while the surrounding skyline created a sense of place that could only belong to Los Angeles.
As daylight softened over Beverly Hills, guests moved between the interiors and rooftop spaces. The evening gradually shifted from a fashion presentation into an intimate celebration of the house itself.
Photographing Fashion Beyond the Wedding Day
I’ve had the privilege of photographing Balmain client experience events for the past year. Because of that relationship, returning to document an evening of this significance felt especially meaningful.
My approach to photographing fashion events isn’t entirely different from how I approach a wedding. Both require an awareness of design, clothing, light, and composition. However, they also demand an instinct for the unscripted moments happening between everything else.
The photographs need to preserve the clothes and details beautifully. At the same time, they should capture the energy of actually being in the room.
For fashion-forward couples, that perspective carries directly into wedding photography. A couture gown deserves the same attention as a fleeting exchange between friends. Beautiful tailoring matters, but so does what happens once everyone forgets about the camera.
Where Fashion and Celebration Meet
Photographing Balmain at Mandarin Oriental Residences Beverly Hills brought those worlds together effortlessly.
From Olivier Rousteing and his Paris team to the models moving through the penthouse in the newest collection, the evening celebrated fashion as something meant to be experienced rather than simply observed.
For me, documenting it was also a reminder of why fashion continues to influence my approach to weddings. The strongest photographs aren’t exclusively editorial or documentary.
They live somewhere between the two.
