Olivier Rousteing traded Las Vegas for St. Petersburg and Nudie suits for Fabergé eggs. Balmainiacs will recognize some elements of his new pre-fall collection—the Perfecto encrusted with pearls and crystals, the long-sleeve minidress with the famous strong shoulders—but Rousteing is determined to redefine the house codes.
To start, he looked to czarist Russia. There s nothing scruffy about the Imperial Palace, and there s nothing scruffy about the new Balmain look, either. Sure, he showed plenty of jeans, but in place of holes he printed them with wallpaper florals and tea-dyed them for a lived-in look. He s also feeling for oversize, which is not something you could ever ascribe to his predecessor, Christophe Decarnin. Blazers and bombers came in men s proportions, and he showed loose pajama pants in quilted silk or dévoré velvet.
"Comfy" was the word he used at an informal presentation at Balmain s offices. And believe it or not, comfy is connecting with buyers; the showroom looked as busy as ever. It helped that Rousteing keyed in to the bigger picture, re-creating Fabergé eggs as head-to-toe watercolor prints and adding pretty colors like blush pink and deep emerald green to his lineup. But the most important thing is that he hasn t forgotten about the sexy factor—the stretchy dévoré dress is proof of that.
