Balmain S/S 2010 Paris

[SGaspar]

omg I don't care about anything, I just adore this collection. BUT since I always adore Balmain I guess my opinion doesn't count much in this situation xD.

 

[maxlinden]

So dissapointing. To me, Balmain was really promising, the most exciting thing to happen to fashion in years, it was so unique in the beginning, but this collection lacks so much. So uninspired and boring, and a completely unexpected turn for Spring (not in a good way either).

i agree, this was another redundant show
with clothes we seen b4 and it also looked a little cheap
balmain in 1000$ o dollars and they come out with stuff i can find for 80 to 100 buck

im Really counting on Marc now to give me sugar
Louis Vuitton better be GREAT

 

[Juliax]

Hmm, I dont wanna wear this for spring /summer. At all. Not a single piece. Other then that I better dont tell anything at all because I aint got anything nice to say about this collection. Not my cup of tea.

 

[in the miso soup]

i like the color palette, seems i'm one of the only ones lol. it's pretty close to what i wear on a normal day (color wise, lots of neutrals, army green etc). but i don't see this working much outside of a serious social event . . . plus it's the same typical balmain look . . . and how is this summer? it's just starting to get cold here, i could see myself wearing these piecies perhaps now but not in march when the temps begin to get warm again.

i find myself attracted to a few pieces . . . i don't know if it's the trend-wh*re in me talking (go AWAY! sometimes she spouts up, you see) . . . but in general, i don't see it as particularly breathtaking. plus as always it will be outrageously overpriced. and the lame is just vomit-inducing.

 

[DD.-]

I actually like some things, like those sequin low cut shirts.
What I don´t like is the price tag, I mean why should a woman pay like a million dollars for the extact same thing that AA or Zara has? Its not that unique.
Just my opinion...
And those dresses are just ridiculous.

 

[chloehandbags]

Well, I like it.

Grungy and earthy meets glamourous and opulent.

This forum can be sooooo puritanical, LOL, which I find kind of bizarre, considering it's a fashion forum; you'd think anything would go!

Lengths of the skirts don't bother me, at all, either - that's what opaque tights and leggings are for and no, it's not summery but then this will, presumably, be sold in December in the US so, quite frankly, who cares?

Spring/Summer collectons are now Winter/Spring collections, anyway.

 

[JuiceMajor]

The only exciting part is Daria...the collection is just so dull and trashy!

 

[masquerade]

Just a few seasons ago, Balmain was dirty in the fun, sl*tty way. Now its just dirty. It went from high class hooker to the girl in the bus station bathroom.

 

[Luxx]

^ Marry me.

 

[masquerade]

^Just don't wear Balmain s/s 10 to the ceremony my love.

 

[Deborah]

I like the jackets, I don't understand why everyone hates this but liked Rodarte?

 

[kelsea]

i think he's already trying too hard to please his clients and the celebs...

he needs to take some more risks before everyone gets bored of the same look in a few more seasons!!

 

[fashionmuse]

sad thing is is that the ripped t-shirts/shorts will be ridiculously expensive. ugh.

the only thing i liked was one of the military jackets and a few of the sequin tops.

 

[ilaughead]

Suzy Menkes' NYTimes.com review of this and the Balenciaga show... I'll be posting this in both threads, because you can't really split it.

October 2, 2009
Special Report
Balmain vs. Balenciaga

By SUZY MENKES
PARIS — Thursday marked the great standoff between Balmain and Balenciaga, two storied couture houses that have both — in very different ways — gone pop with new designers.
Here is the verdict from cyberspace: Balenciaga, 41 Twitters in an hour after the show; and in the same time, Balmain, 75.
If you Google Balmain and Christophe Decarnin, 166,000 results appear (after the designer’s four years at the house). For Balenciaga and Nicolas Ghesquière, it is 70,900 after 12 years at the helm.
How unfair it is that the Balmain designer should have twice the attention of the other. For the collection sent out by Mr. Ghesquière on Thursday was by far the more original and inventive —a return to the futuristic and dynamic look he first delivered at Balenciaga.
Not that Balmain was a bad collection. It was repetitive, but full of energy and a raw sexual charge rarely seen these days on the catwalks. It was based on a military theme — all sparkling epaulets, jangling medals and torn denim tail coats. The dirty-blonde models strode out to the 1980s hip-hop beat of “Rappers’ Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. They were certainly a snapper’s delight — the collection will be a knockout as a video and great as an online slide-show.
Is fashion creativity still the most relevant issue? The spring/summer 2010 Paris shows are having their first season since social networking became a far bigger influence on fashion than editors, or even models and celebrities. If you look at the numbers, the fashion people out there have spoken, even if the judgment is influenced by the Hollywood factor of Rihanna and Beyoncé wearing Balmain or the niche in which Mr. Ghesquière deliberately hides himself.
“I do think about how things will look on screen — it’s very important,” said Mr. Ghesquière before sending out a turbo-powered show that took the designer back to his stark, space-age roots at Balenciaga and junked last season’s drape-and-shape cocktail dresses with a sheen of bourgeois glamour.
“Urban, but with authenticity and rusticity,” said Mr. Ghesquière, who admitted that he had thought “deeply” about this collection.
It had the feeling of clothes never before seen quite like this, even if the first silhouettes of skinny pants — but with hooded vests — touched on the geometry that the designer previously had drawn up for Balenciaga.
But the point of the moto-cross look, down to its ankle-stud boots with cylinder heels, was that it was infused with extraordinary fabric research and gulps of vivid color. The vermilion, green or yellow even appeared as spots at the inner corners of the models’ eyes, as well as in blocks of bright shades emerging from the side of a sliced-away leather dress.
More than ever, this collection seemed like a computerized image, with its stark, clear lines and white shirts as a backdrop. Yet it had three-dimensional depth, with materials intriguing in their mixes of textures and visual contrasts. The audience could see up close the woven raffia vest or porcupine spikes of leather on a skirt hem as the models walked through daylight streaming in from the gilded windows of the grand Hôtel de Crillon.
But anyone who thought that this collection had abandoned the grown-up ladies of last season should have listened to Catherine Deneuve, whose new movie is called “Mere et Filles” or “Mothers and Daughters,” and who sat in the front row with a posse of young French actresses.
“He is so inventive in materials and silhouettes,” said Ms. Deneuve, a French icon, referring to a zippered column dress with a synthetic/organic surface. What a shame that this subtlety won’t play online the same way it did to the live audience.
There was absolutely no subtlety at the Balmain show, which was hard — literally, as metal mesh dresses featured scooped-out, braless necklines; or figuratively, as laces were worked through metal eyelets on leather pants. A belt was even impregnated by bullets.
“It’s warrior women and the military, with a mix of different times and a touch of ‘Mad Max,”’ Mr. Decarnin said backstage, summing up this tough not-so-chic look that has a generation of rich kids in its thrall.
For these are not inexpensive clothes. The skill needed to create such dramatic pieces is exceptional: the cut of the military coats; the threading through of metal mesh and sequins; the lattice weave of python and leather for the pants. And throughout, the skillful cutting that gave the sense of clothes falling onto bare bodies.
There was more than a hint of Gianni Versace in his heyday — but how could you not associate the late designer with metal mesh and a 1980s vibe? And new-millennium Balmain has definitely caught the fashion moment, as well as the attention of a whole wide world of bloggers, Tweeters and cyberspace image makers. They see in Mr. Decarnin the vibe of the moment: love it, grab it, own it, have fun with it. MySpace is his space.

 

[lucy92]

why arent they using the runway to showcase the new accessory line that is supposed to be coming out?

 

[AGiles]

this is an expensive mess

 

[Sweet rus]

is it me or does it get worse each season?
however I agree with what's been said about the jackets, if you take some of them and mix with other pieces, it can look good, the styling is indeed

 

[knockturnal]

its alrriiight

 

[FashionMemory]

I love this collection!! though the materials aren't the best imo

 

[Sabrina]

The collection is annoying because there is just too much of the "Xena the Warrior Princes effect" going on. In a large number of outfits it gets old fast. But if you look at each peace individually, some dresses are rather stunning and glamorous.