Olivier Rousteing Is Using Kendall Jenner & Gigi Hadid to Get You to Buy Balmain x H&M

Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner at the Harper’s Bazaar Icons party on Wednesday night. Photo: Getty Images

Balmain’s collaboration with H&M has yet to hit stores, yet it’s most likely already on every woman’s wishlist between the ages of 14 and 40. How has Olivier Rousteing whet the sartorial palates of so many months before the line’s release and with only a few of the pieces having been revealed? Simple: call on the hottest fashion girls around, make them walk a red carpet in it, have their photo taken in the dress, which is then subsequently shared around the world. On Wednesday, Gigi Hadid joined the Balmain x H&M army on Wednesday night when she wore a dress from the collection to the 2015 Harper’s BAZAAR ICONS Event.

Walking the step-and-repeat at the Plaza Hotel, the 19-year-old social media phenomenon, who was called on icon herself by her younger sister Bella Hadid — cue the collective ‘aww’ — wore a black, white, and tan mini dress covered in sequins arranged in a geometric pattern. The dress draws its inspiration from the French fashion house’s Fall 2102 Ready-to-Wear line, but will be marketed at a much lower price point and actually obtainable for most.

Shortly after Hadid posed in the affordable piece, Rousteing, who has 1.3 million followers on Instagram (one of the most followed designers in the world), shared three images of her, all tagged #HMBALMAINATION, @gigihadid, #jointheNation, #areyouready, #itsgonnabecoutureBABY, #November5th, #getyourBALMAIN, @balmainparis, and @hm. Hadid herself has yet to share a photo to her 6.1 million followers (it was a late night party after all) on Instagram but it was all over Snapchat in real time.

Rousteing first announced the collaboration by attending the Billboard Music Awards with Kendall Jenner and Joan Smalls as his dates dressed in the first incarnations from the collab. Since then, H&M has hopped on board the slow tease train, releasing product shots on social media and select publications. H&M’s also putting Rousteing, a new breed of celebrity designer, front and center. "When you wear clothes, you create a world, you create your own world. I think Balmain today is a vision of the new world,“ the 29-year-old said in a teaser. "I think confidence is the most important thing. But also I think sexy and powerful. I think Balmain DNA is all about unique, and I can’t express how much I’m so excited and how much I enjoy it.”

Up next to join the #HMBalmainNation? Best guess: Kylie Jenner and Bella Hadid.

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