When the shutters opened just before the models walked Antonin Tron’s debut show for Balmain last season, the symbolism was hard to escape. Tron took the creative director chair to let the light of a new day in for the Parisian house.
But as it goes, Tron’s appointment was only one part of the story. Behind the scenes, CEO Matteo Sgarbossa had been leading a thorough transformation of the Mayhoola-owned company since he took on the role in May 2024. Two months later, he found a new CMO in Bruna Scognamiglio and appointed Tron in November 2025, a little after the departure of Olivier Rousteing, who had been at the helm for 14 years.
Together, they have been rethinking Balmain’s product, stores, pricing and communication strategies. Ahead of tonight’s show, we sat down with Matteo and Bruna to get the inside story of Balmain’s transformation strategy.
Vogue: You both recently celebrated your two-year anniversary at Balmain. What would you say have been your biggest moments so far?
Matteo: When I joined as CEO, it was the year of our 80th anniversary — I thought it was a sign. When you have a big anniversary, it makes sense to take a moment to tell the story of the brand, and I realized that the incredible story of Balmain had gone untold. In previous years, the brand had been very much associated with its designer, and it needed to stand on its own.
So, we began what has been two years of complete transformation at the maison, by putting two elements at the center of our strategy: the client and the brand. That, of course, led to a redesign of every department in the company to reflect this new direction, including the product. We were a brand very much perceived as just for evening and occasionwear. We wanted to expand the wardrobe so we could embrace a new audience and dress existing clients throughout the day.
I would say the most important achievement of the last two years has been the building of an entirely new platform for growth. This transformation is still ongoing, and it will last for, I hope, years. But the platform is now there, so we can scale up.
Bruna: When I arrived, the brand was so bold and visible on the outside, but in reality, there was no coherence to the story. That presented a big challenge but also an opportunity for the teams, because there was a lot to be done. We began this exercise of redrawing the brand and defining its values. And once we were clear on that, everything, including the creative transition to Antonin, has been easy.
Antonin Tron, in his office at Balmain HQ.
Photo: Lee Whittaker
