Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

The Balmain hair collection had the incredible opportunity to partner with HRH Sirivannavari Nariratana, who is the Princess of Thailand, for her latest collection, which opened Paris Fashion Week (see our Beauty PR blog for a post on this). Since a member of the Royal Thai family was present as well as the crown Prince (and heir to the throne), security was tight with security officers stationed at every exit and entrance. I actually had the opportunity to interview the Princess face-to-face and ask her questions about her collection (after allowing her team of advisors to review my questions and educate me on protocol!) Make sure to check out our Fashion PR blog, The Fashion Rag, for those details!

While I was in Paris, I worked with celebrity stylist Sean James, who works with numerous A-List celebrities. During his trip, Sean worked with Dita Von Teese to create her signature hairstyle for a private party she was attending. Sean used the hairXpression by Balmain, Paris hair extensions in her hair to extend the length, thickness and volume around the back. He said it was an honor to work with her.

As with most any fashion week runway show, backstage is chaos with hair stylists, makeup artists and fashion stylists all working in a frenzy to put together something that presents cohesively on the models as they hit the runway. It was amazing to watch Olivier de Vriendt, lead hair stylist from Balmain Paris, and his team duplicate each hair style with such perfection each time. Makeup and finally the actual focus of the whole event, the clothing, all seemed to melt together into this effortless look as each model, one by one, emerged on the runway. It was an amazing event that I won't soon forget.

* Photo is of a model with the hairXpression by Balmain Paris look for the Spring/Summer 2009 show.