How Olivier Rousteing became captain of the Balmain Army: From a law school dropout to the A-list's favorite designer - meet the winner of the Daily Mail Hot List fashion category

• Olivier Rousteing was today announced as the winner of the Daily Mail-Perrier Hot List fashion category
• As the creative director of Balmain, Rousteing, 30, has been integral to the French fashion house's phenomenal success
• Rousteing's designs are adored by celebrities including Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna

Sponsored by Perrier

By Olivia Fleming For Dailymail.com

Published: 07:46 EST, 16 September 2015 | Updated: 07:14 EST, 17 September 2015

Five years ago, no-one had heard of Olivier Rousteing. Plucked from relative obscurity at the tender age of 25 to take over as creative director of Balmain, the designer - who celebrated his 30th birthday last week - was barely a blip on the fashion industry's radar, let alone the mainstream media. Boy, how things change.

Now dubbed France's King of Instagram (with 2.2million followers, Balmain was the first French label to pass the million-follower mark), Rousteing has become as famous as the celebrities he dresses - Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Rihanna, and Beyonce among them. So much so, that frenzied fashion paparazzi will often jostle for shots of his chiseled cheekbones with the same enthusiasm they have for Kim's latest contour.

And today, the designer was announced as the winner of the Daily Mail-Perrier Hot List fashion category, beating Kendall Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Gigi Hadid to the title.

Man of the moment: Balmain Creative Director Olivier Rousteing (pictured at the end of his Paris Fashion Week show in March) was today announced as the winner of the Daily Mail-Perrier Hot List fashion category

Of his stratospheric success, Rousteing admitted to Out magazine earlier this year: 'Everything that happened to me at 25 usually happens at 40.'

So how did he achieve so much in such a short time? The Bordeaux-born law school dropout first began his fashion career at age 18, after leaving his adoptive parents - who wanted him to become an 'international lawyer' - to to study at Paris' ESMOD, the Ecole Supérieure des Arts et Techniques de la Mode.

From there, he moved to Rome where he secured a job with Roberto Cavalli; and after five years in Italy, Rousteing wrote directly to Christophe Decarnin, then creative director of Balmain, to ask for a job. 

He had only been at Balmain for two years as an assistant when, after Decarnin stepped down in 2011, Rousteing was suddenly thrust into the limelight, inheriting one of France's - if not the world's - most storied fashion houses.

Young, well-connected and newly famous with a fresh point-of-view, Rousteing quickly made a splash as the leader of a 'new generation' of fashion designers. 

'I'm into pop culture and what's happening in this world,' the designer, who has 1.3million followers of his own on Instagram, told In Style. 

Insta-famous: Rousteing, whose social media savvy has been integral to his success, counts Kim Kardashian (left) and Beyonce (right) among his friends

Celebrity friends: Rousteing's guests at a post-show dinner in March included, from left, Jared Leto, Lewis Hamilton, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian

And well aware of social media's smoke-and-mirrors, Rousteing isn't ashamed to admit that he uses Instagram to sell a dream. 

'It's my perfect life, and I suck my cheeks in,' he told Out. 'Of course, I cry and have family or personal problems and am heartbroken, but I don't need to show that. It makes your life look cooler than it is. My job is to give a happy message about the brand to interest people.'

His social media-savvy, coupled with an ability to blur the lines between couture and ready-to-wear, seems to be working. A New York Balmain store is set to open in late 2015, and with sales rising (the privately owned company has never released exact sales figures, but it says that Balmain has grown between 15 per cent and 20 per cent in the last three years), the brand is said to be eyeing more locations in LA, Dubai, and China.

'You can't put Balmain in a box,' Rousteing explained to Vogue.com in January, before showing his pre-fall 2015 collection. Indeed, the designer is set to make the out-of-reach-for-many luxury brand even more coveted, yet all-inclusive, with the upcoming Balmain x H&M collection, which will be released later this year. 

Magic touch: Rousteing's creations on the Balmain Paris Fashion Week catwalk in March of this year

Signature look: A snap of the Balmain resort 2016 collection shared by Rousteing on his Instagram feed demonstrates the high octane glamour for which he has become known

'Balmain is super-expensive so it was really a challenge,' Rousteing confessed to GQ. 'The H&M team knew this, too, but they knew what they were going for. 

'They wanted the luxury, they wanted the sharpness of the jackets. The challenge was to make it affordable, so we changed the fabrics and techniques. We did a little less embroidery. It was a compromise but we made certain the quality was still there.'

He continued: 'It wasn't easy for me and it wasn't easy for them, but I think we should be proud of the result. I know there are people that love Balmain but who can't afford it. Maybe they will never be able to afford it but now for once in their life they can have a piece of me.'

And a piece of Rousteing is exactly what his fans, who have come to be known the Balmain Army, will be lining up for come November 5, 2015.

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