Olivier Rousteing: Balmain designer reveals fireplace explosion injuries
- Published
Olivier Rousteing's Instagram photo showed injuries he suffered last year, he said
Celebrated French fashion designer Olivier Rousteing has revealed he was injured following an accident at his home last year, sharing a picture of himself in heavy bandages.
Rousteing, the creative director of fashion house Balmain, shared the news in an Instagram post, external on Saturday.
"Exactly a year ago, the fireplace inside my house exploded," he wrote.
He woke the next day at the Hôpital Saint Louis in Paris, and has since been recovering from his injuries.
Rousteing said his insecurities and fashion's "obsession with perfection" had stopped him from revealing all before now.
"To be honest I am not really sure why I was so ashamed," he wrote. As he recovered he had hidden his injuries with long sleeves and jewellery during interviews.
"Now, a year later - healed, happy and healthy," he wrote. He thanked the medical staff who had treated him despite "dealing with an incredible number of Covid cases at that same time", and spoke about how lucky he now felt.
"There is always the sun after the storm."
The designer, pictured here at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month, says he is "healed, happy and healthy"
Fellow fashion designers, models and other celebrities were among those to offer their support in response to Rousteing's post.
The designer Donatella Versace wrote she was "so glad" he was safe. "Let love rule," said musician Lenny Kravitz.
Kim Kardashian West wrote "I love you", while her mother Kris Jenner said she was "beyond proud" of Rousteing, adding that his "message of hope and strength and focus and love will always inspire everyone who you come in contact with".
Rousteing took up his post as Balmain's creative director in 2011 at the age of just 25. According to a profile in Out Magazine, external the brand grew between 15% and 20% between 2012 and 2015.
He has opened boutiques in London and New York, the company's first outside Paris.
A 2019 Netflix documentary, Wonder Boy, looked at his career and followed him as he searched for his biological mother.