For Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain, the Parisian luxury house, South Africa is a long way from home. But the country is close to his heart.
“My passport is French,” said Mr. Rousteing, 38, on a phone call from Paris. “But my blood is African,” added the designer, who learned relatively late in life that he is of Somalian and Ethiopian descent.
The coastal Western Cape region of South Africa provided inspiration for Mr. Rousteing’s latest style collaboration: a Balmain collection developed in partnership with Disney to promote the 30th anniversary of the “The Lion King,” which was released in June 1994.
The project was a kind of spiritual homecoming for the designer, as well as the realization of a childhood fantasy. Mr. Rousteing was 9 when he first saw the film. It taught him some valuable lessons. “Take nothing for granted,” he said. “Through your journey there will be obstacles and challenges, but trust in yourself, never give up.”
His limited-edition collection, influenced by artisanal African textiles, patterns and silhouettes, was conceived to reflect the movie’s characters and pervading themes. Its ready-to-wear and couture pieces — which include zebra-stripe coats and jackets, a densely fringed raffia dress and a bustier gown patterned with familiar “Lion King” characters — are showcased in a short film shot near Cape Town and featuring models from across Africa.
Items from the joint venture between Balmain and Disney, the first of its kind, will start at $450; couture garments are priced upon request. The collection will be sold by Balmain and at department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Harrods, in London, starting July 8.
The “Lion King” Balmain line is one of several initiatives promoting the film’s milestone year. A live anniversary concert featuring original voice actors and new performers including North West took place last month in Los Angeles, and there are plans to rerelease the animated film in theaters in July, ahead of the planned release in December of a new live-action prequel: “Mufasa: The Lion King.”
Fashion offers another way for fans to engage with the movie, said Tasia Filippatos, the president of the consumer products division at Disney, which has previously forged design partnerships with Supreme, Givenchy, Gucci and Christian Louboutin, among others. She added that Mr. Rousteing’s “personal history” with the film made him an “organic fit.”
Mr. Rousteing, whose past collaborations include a Barbie partnership with Mattel in 2022, is well aware of such pop-culture ventures’ commercial potential.
“You are introducing new landscapes, new cultures and fashion to people who don’t know Balmain,” he said. To remain relevant, he added, “the house needs to be a witness of its time.”
Still Preppy After All These Years
Comeback is a word that makes Steven Stolman cringe. But Mr. Stolman, a former Lilly Pulitzer designer who started his own label before leaving fashion to work in interior design, is returning to his original métier this summer with a new line for J. McLaughlin, another brand long associated with elevated preppy chic.
The small collection, called RSVP, will be sold at J. McLaughlin’s stores on the Upper East Side in Manhattan; in Southampton, N.Y.; in Newport, R.I.; and in Edgartown, Mass., on Martha’s Vineyard.
It is built around uncomplicated evening wear, a category very familiar to Mr. Stolman, whose signature was the type of buoyant taffeta skirt often seen at lawn parties. Many of his creations for J. McLaughlin, which also include cotton shorts ($248) and bustiers ($298), evoke the garb worn by society swells swanning poolside in Slim Aarons photographs.
Mr. Stolman’s new venture took root soon after he cold-called Kevin McLaughlin, J. McLaughlin’s co-founder and creative director, offering to create a line for the brand. Mr. McLaughlin, once a friendly competitor to Mr. Stolman, said he saw it as an opportunity to “cover a part of the customer’s closet that we don’t cover right now.”
He added that Mr. Stolman understood J. McLaughlin’s aesthetic and how to take its customer as “close to fashion as she wants to go without taking her over the edge.”
Mr. Stolman’s grasp of that fine line is evident in skirts he is designing for his RSVP collection, which are made to “pick up the breeze when a woman moves,” he said, “and, of course, have pockets.”
“I’m making sure that they can hold a smartphone and a lipstick,” he added.