ILHAM MESTOUR Balmain Hair Artistic Director

Ilham Mestour is a Moroccan-Dutch hairdresser born in Casablanca who moved to the Netherlands as a child. Later, she returned to Morocco for a while and came back to the Netherlands as a teenager. Ilham has been passionate about hair since childhood, coming from Morocco, where women’s hair care culture is highly valued. She has said she is fascinated by the influence hair has over us and always knew it was something she wanted to pursue.

Over the years, she has collaborated and styled hair for fashion shows during Fashion Week for brands such as Armani, Burberry, Max Mara, Fendi, Rick Owens, Ferragamo, and Zac Posen, and has worked with celebrities and top models.
Ilham Mestour is both inspiring and highly professional. She has now been appointed as the new Artistic Director of Balmain Hair Couture.

On the very day she took on her new role, she had a meeting with the Balmain team. During the meeting, Balmain Hair’s International Education Director Kasper Heemskerk gave a deeper introduction to the brand and mentioned that Balmain was the first fashion house to launch its own haircare line – a unique selling point for the Balmain Hair Couture brand. The Balmain Hair care range includes a wide variety of products for all hair types. Now that Ilham has stepped into this role, she looks forward to seeing what she can help improve and how she can contribute to the company.

©BALMAIN, Photography by Louie Banks

She believes one way to do that is by creating more products specifically designed for curly hair.
Ilham Mestour also runs her own Dutch Beauty Academy in Amsterdam.

As a Fashion Week veteran, she has styled hair for shows by Armani, Burberry, Gucci, Valentino, Givenchy, Max Mara, Fendi, Rick Owens, Ferragamo, and Zac Posen. Mestour has worked with many celebrities, top models, and royals. Her impressive client list includes Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Farida Khelfa, Imaan Hammam, Carla Bruni, Amina Muaddi, Mona Zaki, Samira Said, Nadine Nassib, and many more.

“I’ve known Balmain Hair Couture for over 20 years, and our friendship has now blossomed into a beautiful collaboration where we share the same vision and passion,” Mestour told Vogue Arabia. “I’m incredibly excited about this new adventure.”

Balmain Hair Couture also shares a synergistic bond with the Netherlands – the brand launched after Pierre Balmain began collaborating with a young Dutch wig maker, Dick Guliker.

Sources:
Numeromag
Ilham Mestour Bio
Vogue