Balmain Design and its iconic jackets. When Paris was liberated in August 1944, Pierre Balmain decided the time had come to open his own fashion house. Quickly setting up his atelier in a newly vacated space at 44 Rue de François Premier, he began producing collections that would define French fashion. Balmain dresses and apparel are driven by boldness and a distinctive optic that translates into an extraordinarily fresh and feminine vision.