Doing the We Want Your Job! feature here on Le Blow has both inspired and depressed me in equal measure, seeing fellow females being so successful at such a tender age. Olivier Rousteing, whilst obviously not a woman, is only 25 and now in the designer driving seat at Balmain, following the demise of his former boss Christophe Decarnin. Wowser.
However, it’s clear that Rousteing is more than au fait with the Balmain girl, and the transition appears to be seamless for S/S’12 with the signature style in evidence: trophy jackets with statement shoulders, skinny jeans and tight mini dresses. However, bringing in the new, Rousteing looked to traditional toreador costumes for inspiration, in his words:
Mixing the tailoring of Mexico and the glamour of Vegas
Or maybe it was more fat period Elvis? Probably not – elaborate embroideries and embellishment were the name of the game and models with slicked back barnets oozed sexy, rich girl charm.
There were more wearable, casual pieces too: pale denim boyfriend jeans, plain white T-shirts and flowing denim maxi skirts.
But Rousteing didn’t forget Balmain’s rock ‘n’ roll roots (good lad), and I enjoyed the lashings of leather: dresses appliquéd with gold brocade; sexy corsets and skinny cropped trousers and blazers. I’ve been pioneering double leather as the obvious move-on from it’s denim counterpart for some time now, so exceptionally glad to see the latter on the runway:
Whilst still an ultimately wearable collection, and I wouldn’t say no to any of the featured garms, should someone decide to buy me a very nice gift (I’m size 10, if you’re serious), I just didn’t get that same ‘fashion feeling’ of unbridled excitement, like I did waaay back in A/W ’09… when Decarnin was at the helm. Hmmm.
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