Signaling a new visual direction for Balmain, and with an even stronger French accent, Laetitia Casta appears in its spring campaign, her hair parted and hanging loose as she poses for German photographer Juergen Teller.
Captured at the Paris home of Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing, the unvarnished and spontaneous images break Thursday on Balmain’s social channels.
“The message is authenticity and reality,” Rousteing said in an exclusive interview, exclaiming: “It’s pretty cool to have Laetitia Casta in your bathtub.”
The model and actress can also be seen lounging on a zebra skin, straddling a black marble panther, and flaunting dramatic pagoda shoulders in a red pantsuit that nearly matches her lipstick.
It marked Rousteing’s first time working with Teller, and the brand’s new art directors Ezra Petronio and Lana Petrusevych.
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“It didn’t feel like a photo shoot but like building a family,” he remarked.
The Bordeaux-born designer said Casta has been appearing on his Balmain mood boards since he took the helm of the French house in 2011. Chosen in 2000 as the model for Marianne, the official face of the French Republic, “she’s iconic,” Rousteing said, lauding Casta’s kind, generous and approachable manner — and captivating allure.
“I’m back to Paris, I’m back to the elegance, the sophistication, the sensual femininity so I think she was the perfect choice,” he said. “What I love about her is the tension of this incredible femininity as well as the sense of intrigue and danger that she brings to a room.”
Casta said she relished the chance to get to know Rousteing better, and to work together with him and Balmain.
“He’s a very touching person, and a very special person,” she told WWD, describing the shoot as “very intimate.”
“He was so kind and so nice and so involved. I really appreciate him and his own story, and what he’s been through, very interesting. He’s very clever, and very young, too.”
Rousteing said he first met Casta about a decade ago, and they curled up on his sofa during the shoot for two hours catching up, even tearing up a little.
“Fashion has always been stronger when there was a real connection between the creative director and his muse, and that’s what I felt when we were together in the room,” the designer said. “I always had to fight for people to understand I’m the French designer because of my skin color…and she’s someone that fights for diversity.”
Rousteing said he also relished working with Teller and his creative partner Dovile Drizyte. “He’s someone that is incredibly talented with such a strong vision and a point of view, with no compromise.…He understood exactly what I wanted.”
Casta’s main costar in the campaign is Balmain’s new Anthem bag, a soft leather satchel cinched with a belt to suggest a confident, feminine glamour.
