Top of his game

Olivier Rousteing reflects on 15 years at Balmain and savours his collaboration with Johnnie Walker Vault

- LAURA CRAIK

As followers of fashion's recent round of musical chairs will know, luxury brands change their creative directors as frequently as the rest of us change our sheets.

Which makes it all the more impressive that Olivier Rousteing has led the French house of Balmain for a defiant 15 years, since being appointed in 2011 aged 25.

When you design such directional yet elegant clothes as he does, and when your client list includes Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé, there's little reason to meddle with one of high fashion's most winning formulas.

Olivier, who turned 40 last month, is marking his big birthday with support from Johnnie Walker Vault, the couture offering from the 200-year-old Scotch brand for whom he's just designed a new flask. Constructed from gold, silver and glass in the same clean lines as Walker's original whisky bottle, it can be worn crossbody or as an item of jewellery.

It's typical of Olivier to carry his whisky in such an elevated form. “I love drinking whisky with my family in Bordeaux over Christmas," he says. “In summer, I'd use whisky to make a cocktail, but in winter I'd drink it neat. I have to say that the one we created from the vault is so special that I wouldn't dream of mixing it with anything.”