Balmain S/S 11 Paris

[Tentacl Ventricl]

Well in the war between Pucci and Balmain , Pucci won !
Balmain looks like Isabels fall 2010 , right down to the pants , the american tops , the skirts ,the colors ,etc walked over by a group of farm animals

lol farm animals.

or mauled by a football team (or two) on a muddy pitch. the dirty b*tch.

 

[LittleJ]

Nothing change ... boring

 

[Tentacl Ventricl]

You are making some great points here.

Yet, I can't help but wonder whether this brand repositioning (if there was ever such a thing, that is) was attempted in order to attract a new customer (e.g. banker/banker's wife with en edge as you have brilliantly described) or in order to replace their core customer base that was eluding them, because of *repetition fatigue* maybe? I mean to say, wouldn't the 20's socialite/heiress and the footballer's wife (and their stylists) who has sported this style for a couple of years already, try to show her fashion savvy-ness (...well...) by moving away from a style that has been extensively copied and worn by every teenage girl, and a brand that all her peers have already exhausted?

In the second case, this latest collection will face a serious problem.

Yes it's essentially the point I borrowed from Jack and Lazarus in post 118.

And for those young celeb type / wannabees if you want to be perceived to have some street edge but also some kudos, originality, and a bit of depth/gravity too, to stand out for more respected column inches, you'll get more bang for your buck I'd have thought sporting Proenza Schouler, Balenciaga or several others.

The gutter celeb press could/(should) really give the Balmain wearers a hefty mauling. Like farm animals or footballers might. When it's all at that kind of level, indeed, how long can the look remain cool or interesting. One kind of senses though that the look might just hold for a few months more. We'll see.

 

[Donatello89]

more than borring

 

[Foxie-Pooh]

The concept was tired and the presentation was bland but the individual pieces seems to be spectacularly made. If you study the detailed photos it seems like some of the jackets and shorts are adorned with tens of thousands of pins, studs, and chains, all hand finished for sure. The prices will turn out to be astronomical...I'm guessing they will be some of the most expensive pieces ever produced from Balmain...20K leather jackets with 15K denim cut offs anyone?

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[FashionablyVivid]

this collection represents my personal style and taste. and balmain has always delivered. I love it!

 

[Alexis1983]

I always love Bamain
BUT...those jeans that look like they have mud smeared on them HAVE TO GO! I bet they cost $2,000 too.
Thats the only things I have a hard time understanding...their price points for ripped t-shirts, and paint splattered jeans etc...its a little insane

 

[sobigsobig]

This is very fashion?

Dirty and outdated old school dress

 

[Tentacl Ventricl]

The concept was tired and the presentation was bland but the individual pieces seems to be spectacularly made. If you study the detailed photos it seems like some of the jackets and shorts are adorned with tens of thousands of pins, studs, and chains, all hand finished for sure. The prices will turn out to be astronomical...I'm guessing they will be some of the most expensive pieces ever produced from Balmain...20K leather jackets with 15K denim cut offs anyone?

style.com

One has to admit there's a certain beauty in the craftsmanship displayed and thanks for posting FoxiePooh but it might be hoped that those who follow the Decarnin aesthetic might be inspired not to contribute to the Balmain coffers but to put their own safety pins onto their own denim cut-offs.

Much closer to the spirit of punk and the anti-commercial spirit of our times surely and when two hours or so creative endevaour can save you £15k it becomes a no brainer surely.

 

[LadynoireAffair]

Well even if I don't like that collection because for me Isabel Marant could have done exactly the same, I have to admit that he did something different from the last x collection where there were always the same vest... well at least I hope that he will continue to move foward.
1 thing I like and that I will always like about his collection even if its bad, is the details

http://babyabbeylee.blogspot.com/

 

[balmain1914]

dont ask me to touch that girl's back, ever!

 

[Escale Cherie II]

I'm with everyone else, I'm already constantly annoyed by Decarnin's constant "effortless glam of pure luxe" debate. but I guess that came with rock'n'roll, NOT grunge. 90s were great as a whole, but the clothes were awful

 

[Meg2109]

Although I love it, I was hoping to see something new from Balmain, it's a bit same old, repetitive.

But you have to appreciate Decarnin and how he can get away with selling filthy looking tees for hundreds/thousands of dollars.

 

[karina_zb]

"Girls, go steal a little boy's leather bomber or denim vest, slash it up, bedazzle it, and load it with safety pins: That's the Balmain look"

Oh God, no thank you.

 

[mikeijames]

considering my two of my favorite dresses from the fall/winter collection -- the minidress worn by jessica alba to the machete premeire and the minidress worn by anna dello russo to the balmain show -- didn't appear on the fall/winter runway, one wonders whether the catwalk presentation showed the full extent of the collection. if so, one must say that it's quite a let down after last season's full-blown excess and seasons' worth of litte drummer jackets, sparkly minidresses, and other balmain favorites. with that said, the rest of this stuff recalls the fall/winter 2008 collection timed exactly right to coincide with a resurgence of this punk look at burberry, emporio (mens), and balenciaga.

this collection, more than any other, will truly test the loyalty of the balmain fanbase.

 

[Wolkfolk]

Balmain is the perfect example of how bad the fashion world evolved. All the hype around this type designers , results to Christophe wasting his talent by repetiting again and again the exactly same type of clothes and mood. Of course, sticking to what you do best isn't a problem, and of course there's some interesting pieces ( mostly the jackets which are the only thing for me that worth their outrageous price ). But still, it's almost as if he was making fun of people by presenting this, when its not knock-off from Isabel Marrant last Fall collection, its pieces that seems to be taken from his previous collections.
But the worse of that whole mess, is the fact that we will see these clothes everywhere : on the blogs, on the celebrities, on the editors and in the magazine. And this is why, next season we will be complaining on the same points about Balmain.

 

[InnocentSuccubus]

^ great post

 

[Katnani]

I used to be a fan of Christopher, because he brought something new to Balmain...But now it's getting tiring... I love this vibe, love this style, always did, but over and over and over again... No, thanks! We need some brand new ideas from this talented boy! He can do it!

 

[BibiRose]

#156 So agree! People get what they wanted, Balmain earns money and everyone's happy. Such a pity that it doesn't bring anything new to fashion...

 

[mikeijames]

i really do understand why he took this punk rock attitude on with this collection. he has such pressure to create something new and when he does -- like spring/summer 2010 and fall/winter 2010 -- people still pretend as if it's nothing new. while this collection didn't dazzle us with novelty in the same way brocaded dresses or "mad max" shoulders did, he stayed true to the house he's re-constructed and to his own aesthetic. he did it "his way." further, let's recall when balenciaga puts out the most hackneyed (by balenciaga standards) collection a couple of seasons in a row (it was futurism, futurism, futurism there for a while), everyone just said "well, he's being true to himself" despite bucking the the various trends that enthralled us.

not every collection is going to be sine qua non, some of them are just going to give us rocking clothes for a rocking good time. and these did that just fine. these clothes are don hill's not beverly hills.

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