In homage to the French capital’s reputation as a center of fashion design know-how, Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing declared his mantra was mastering “the rules before you…break them.”
Guests at Balmain’s ambitious spring show, including model Alessandra Ambrosio and socialite Olivia Palermo, looked on with delight as the presentation mixed the fashion capital’s traditional couture DNA up in deconstruction.
With white the dominant color, the Balmain atelier’s needle-workers had gone to work skillfully on creating structure.
A giant oval wrap that opened in segmented shell-like sections had guests snapping their cameras.
The same shell-like sections were seen later, but this time deconstructed, looking almost-upside down, with a fan shape stitched onto a skirt.
The look — a skintight white peaked-shoulder gown — was made with strips of material that were snipped away in places to resemble bandages — almost like the wrapping of an Egyptian mummy.
The Egypt idea, in fact, was revealed as a dominant theme as the collection progressed.
Rousteing explored his “fascination with the impressive obelisks, pyramids and columns that date from Napoleon’s campaigns and adorn” Paris.
Dramatic Egyptian shoulders mixed with hieroglyphic prints, while denim and tweed were treated to look like ancient papyrus.
Some of the detailing came across as too much, but the enthusiastic applause the designer received was well-deserved.
“I enjoy pushing envelopes, thinking outside the box,” he said in a note placed on guest’s seats — in an envelope.
— CARA DELEVINGNE LIP-SYNCS, DANCES BACKWARD
It’s quite a feat when a fashion show soundtrack stands out as much as the clothes.
At Balmain’s Friday morning show, catchy pop hits had front-row editors tapping their feet, nodding their heads and joyfully mouthing or singing the lyrics.
Model and actress Cara Delevingne should be credited for initiating the sing-along enthusiasm among normally purse-lipped fashion insiders.
Delevingne opened the show in a white peaked-shoulder coat and metallic black bustier, lip-synching Prince’s “When Doves Cry” all the way down the runway.
As she took a finale bow with designer Rousteing, Delevingne mouthed some lyrics again as she danced backward in heels, trying not to trip and sticking her tongue out a few times.
The infectious spring collection soundtrack also included Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”
It had guests humming all the way down the gilded staircase of the venue — Paris’ opulent City Hall.
