Eighty years ago, Pierre Balmain revealed his first couture collection to the press in his headquarters located 44 Rue François 1er, to this day still the house’s flagship, in front of an audience that included Gertrude Stein and Cecil Beaton.

A key player in France’s postwar fashion renaissance, the couturier came to define the “Jolie Madame” aesthetic that appealed as much to aristocrats and royals as it did to Hollywood leading stars.

When he died in 1982 at the age of 68, the reins passed to a succession of designers whose fortunes at the helm varied from solidly successful to spectacularly short-lived.

Below, a look back at the designers at the helm of the storied French house, from the founder to the current Olivier Rousteing , who has piloted the brand’s renaissance, and

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