The Laurel suit in
black velvet.stand, through the response of our customers,
what they need and want. I have no experience
whatsoever as an entrepreneur, but I have a clear
idea of my taste, and the experience of working as
a model in fashion meant I was lucky enough to
see the details and the care that goes into beau-
tiful luxury fashion.”
Balti has long been interested in the intersection
between high fashion and pregnancy. Her career
as one of the world’s top models has seen her walk
for every brand from Prada, Valentino and Gucci
to Givenchy and Alexander McQueen, but her
most memorable runway moment was arguably
Dolce & Gabbana’s A/W 2016 runway when she
walked while eight months pregnant with
Mia. This, along with a very pregnant
Maia Ruth Lee walking for Eckhaus Latta
in S/S 2018, and model Slick Woods
going into labour right after stepping off
Rihanna’s Fenty x Savage New York
fashion week runway in September, shows
the industry’s fresh interest in pregnancy.
But let’s get back to Balti. Her mater-
nity line is infused with a flirty, feminine
sensibility: think ultra-mini hemlines
(inspired by photos of a pregnant Jane
Birkin in the ’60s), luxurious velvet
fabrics, charming cotton shirtdresses,
structured bouclé bolero jackets and
pretty bloomers. The whole collection
acts as an antidote to more matronly and
amorphous pregnancy collections. Put
simply, her pieces don’t look like mater-
nity clothes. “From my experience, when
you are pregnant and you are looking for
something dressier, it’s always very old
lady,” is how she explains it. “Even if I
wear jeans and a T-shirt during the day,
I still want to wear something young and
fun and fashionable in the evening when I
go out. I think you can see the Los Angeles
influence there in my collection... Fashion
in Europe, and especially regarding mater-
nity wear, is more traditional and mature.”
With sustainability being one of the
founding tenets of the brand, Balti has
focused on creating high-quality garments
that can be worn by all women during and
long after pregnancy. “The hardest part of this
idea was to develop pieces that could be worn
by pregnant women and non-pregnant women,
but I think we managed!”
Balti produces everything in LA, having fostered
strong relationships with local manufacturers
there, and her small, all-female team (“What do
men know about working on a maternity line?”)
works only with deadstock fabrics.“You’ll find a
beautiful roll of silk velvet, and so it’ll only be
enough for 20 dresses, which can be hard,” she
explains. Creating pieces with longevity has added
sentimental value for Balti, who feels they harken
back to an era where garments were made “with
such quality that they could last for generations”.These philosophies stand in direct
opposition to the rise of the throw-
away culture that fast fashion has
ushered in, exacerbated by modern
conveniences such as three-hour
shipping and ‘buy now, pay later’
services. Balti hopes her line
encourages an emotional connec-
tion to fashion.
“I don’t know how we all decided
that always having something new
is more important than having
something beautiful, or with a
history, or of quality,” she says with
a sigh. “When I was a teenager, my
mum gave me so many of the
clothes she had [worn] herself as a
teenager. But we don’t look at the
content of the fabric of our clothes anymore — we
just look at whether it looks trendy or fashionable. To
me, that’s very sad — I like the history. When we buy
fast fashion, we lose the stories behind the clothes.”
The time-honoured tradition in Balti’s family of
passing things on is one that she intends to uphold
with her daughters. On the day we chat, she tells me
that her youngest daughter has just started playing
with the first doll that Balti owned. I wonder if there
are any intangible legacies she hopes to impart on
her daughters also. “I just really hope that they
become strong, determined and independent women
one day so that whatever the world is going to bring
to them, they are going to be fighters,” she says.
“Generation after generation, it becomes easier for
women, but we shouldn’t think that means we’re
already done. It’s my mission to make [my daugh-
ters] realise that they don’t have to count on anybody
else but themselves to have whatever they want in
life.” We don’t doubt she will succeed — Bianca Balti
is a woman who lives by her word.The Laurel in
black and gold
silk. Below:
The Nichols.ANNIE EDMONDS; RENÉE RODRIGUEZ
“The hardest part
of this idea was to
develop pieces thatcould be worn by
pregnant womenand non-pregnant
women, but I think
we managed!”61 HARPERSBAZAAR.COM.AU April 2019