At Balmain, Gilles Dufour takes the house s staid Jolie Madame image and filters it through the eyes of a younger generation. There is a limit to how rebellious his gilded Parisienne wants to get, however. Grandmère s draped black-jersey cocktail dress from the 40s? Punk it up a little with colored hose and spike-heeled satin ankle boots. Maman s sun-ray-pleated, giant-dot print 60s chiffon frock? Shrug a slim leather coat over it, and pin your hair into a messy French twist. Those dappled double-face country tweeds (nip-waist jackets and short, full skirts)? Spice them up with a graffiti print T-shirt or a skinny cashmere sweater with a saucy message emblazoned across the front.
Dufour takes an old leaf from Schiaparelli s book too, sprinkling beaded butterflies, satin M&Ms or coils of "pasta" on fitted evening jackets, or sequin eyes, lips and even bright-colored false nails on knits. Flying with the season s "more is more" mantra, and leaving the editing to the editors, Dufour throws little mink matinee jackets (reinvented in cartoon colors and shrugged over cut-velvet and chiffon kilts), firework embroideries and Dickensian cutaway jackets into the frantic mix.
