Olivier Rousteing definitely has a thing for water. Balmain’s creative director swept into the party for his latest collaboration with Evian wearing a navy blazer with captain airs, and flared pants that puddled over his platform shoes.

A glass of Champagne was plopped in front of him when he sat down for an interview, and he requested some water with lemon as well as.

Asked what number of photos of “eau” he has on his iPhone, he did a search on his camera phone and got here up with almost 4,000 images, most of them beach scenes.

“It’s relaxing,” he said of his penchant for seaside getaways. “And you recognize, what I really like about that will not be only just the water, but the sensation of it being infinite.”

Rousteing kicked off a long-term collaboration with Evian last September by parading a dramatic, swirling couture gown on his spring 2023 runway product of a fabric containing 46 percent recycled plastic Evian bottles.

If that project was to show that sustainable fashion will be extravagant and maximalist, his second collaboration with Evian — a capsule collection of ready-to-wear that dropped earlier this week — skews more approachable.

“This one’s about being reasonably priced,” Rousteing said, as guests on the cocktail event on the Plaza Athénée hotel inspected T-shirts, jeans, sweats and blousons bearing the gradient pink and blue colours of Evian water bottles, and each brands’ logos. Retail prices start at about 250 euros for bucket hats and 495 euros for T-shirts and run as much as 2,990 euros for blousons.

Influencer Lena Mahfouf posed for photos in an embroidered minidress and Sarah Andelman noted that her mother’s famed boutique, Colette, began its life in 1997 with a water bar. She recalled that Evian’s teardrop-shaped Millennium edition, now hyper-collectible, kicked off the dalliance between water and design.

Prinz Pinakatt, senior vp and global head of Danone Waters, described the Evian x Balmain partnership as its most successful to this point, hinting at robust sales of the ornate bottle design released last October and targeted mainly at fantastic dining establishments.

Resale prices for the limited-edition vessels, festooned with daring gold lettering, blue lace, droplet motifs and baroque touches, hover around 20 euros on resale sites like eBay.

“His vision aligns very much with our vision,” Pinakatt said of Rousteing’s drive to make Balmain as sustainable as possible, and zeroing in on their shared roots in France’s Alpine region. (Founder Pierre Balmain hails from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.) “Two French icons got here along with an ethos and perspective on the world that is de facto about evolving and changing the established order.”

Pinakatt noted that Evian had approached Balmain about decorating a limited-edition bottle — because it has done with the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Off-White, Paul Smith and others since 2007 — and Rousteing suggested a more involved partnership.

The designer said he was keen to tap into Evian’s expertise as he strives to extend Balmain’s use of sustainable materials and technologies.

The rtw capsule boasts not only certified organic cotton, viscose and recycled materials — Balmain also partnered with Solaris to provide a transparent Balmain pool slide crafted entirely from plastic waste.

“They taught me quite a bit, which I’m now teaching to my supply chain,” Rousteing enthused during an interview. “And in a few months, I’ll ensure that that more Balmain sneakers come out completely sustainable.

“Every 12 months we get recent people coming to show us methods to be more sustainable contained in the house, and out of doors of the home, finding a recent supply chain, finding the suitable fabrics, finding recent countries that may develop our collections with a sustainability in mind,” he added.

Indeed, Pinakatt described Rousteing’s collaboration with Evian as a “personal passion project,” along with his rtw capsule conveying the water brand’s “casual chic” ethos, and its sporty elan, underscored by Evian’s longstanding partnerships with marquee tennis tournaments.

“The French chicness Evian conveys very much aligns with the ethos of the style industry,” he noted. “Being a part of that culture only helps us to construct equity, and the preference for our brand.”

Headquartered near Évian-les-Bains, France, where its famous water is sourced, Evian became a licensed B Corp in 2021, thought to be a gold standard for sustainable corporations.

Evian has committed to grow to be a totally circular brand by 2025, by which period it can make all its plastic bottles from one hundred pc recycled materials, and keep plastic out of nature.

In support of the capsule drop, Balmain and Evian also hosted a celebration in Recent York City attended by the likes of Alton Mason and Natalie Lim Suarez.

Balmain is working a pop-up in Montecito, California, until April 27. Situated within the Rosewood Miramar resort, the temporary installation takes over its beach bar and bungalow to showcase the Balmain x Evian capsule and items from Balmain’s summer collection.