Kylie Jenner's last-minute cancellation at PFW put Balmain into 'meltdown'

1 October 2019

Kylie Jenner's last-minute cancellation at Paris Fashion Week sent Balmain into a "meltdown."

Kylie Jenner

The 22-year-old businesswoman was supposed to sit front row at last Friday's show, join the fashion house's creative director Olivier Rousteing on the runway at the end and personally apply her products from her beauty brand Kylie Cosmetics to the models ahead of their walk to celebrate and promote her multimillion-dollar make-up deal with the high-end brand.

However, the 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star was forced to pull out her appearance just before the big gig after she developed flu-like symptoms - and the late cancellation didn't go down well with the staff at Balmain who had been working on the collaboration for months.

An insider told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: "They've been working on this deal with Kylie for over a year. It is huge, worth millions and millions of dollars. When Kylie cancelled at short notice, Balmain went into meltdown.

"The entire team at Balmain were in chaos mode because they lost the star of their show. They were devastated and begged her to reconsider, but she didn't.

"Millions of dollars in product had been ordered to celebrate this collaboration, and the plans had been in the works for over 12 months."

Kylie admitted at the time that she was "heartbroken" that she couldn't attend the event.

She said: "Hi guys! So as you know, I was getting ready to go to Paris for the Balmain show at Paris Fashion Week for the launch of makeup collab with Olivier. Unfortunately I'm really sick and unable to travel. I'm heartbroken to be missing this show, but I know that my amazing team and my friends who are in town for the event will help me be there in spirit ...

"Creating this collection with Olivier has been a dream. Of course this collection isn't just for the runway ... I created this so you could have a piece of this once in a lifetime event. I'm SO proud of this collection and of Olivier and our friendship, vision and creatively really comes across in the products we created for you guys. Make sure you guys watch the show with me on Friday. It's going to be an epic event and I can't wait. I love you Olivier, congratulations and I'm sending you all my love. (sic)"