Balmain has long since succumbed to the lure of couture denim — but more recently, it was down and dirty with torn surfaces but ritzy ornamental effects. Now the fresh and upbeat spirit of the designer Olivier Rousteing set the collection on a different route: Las Vegas by way of Mexico. And the result was polished, refined and ostentatious in an ironic way. In other words — a hit.
“I wanted Las Vegas and Mexican bullfighting,” Mr. Rousteing said, “but I also looked at the embroideries of Pierre Balmain and Oscar de la Renta,” who previously designed for the house. He meant he wanted to be a picador with the house’s heritage rather than just aiming for the heart of the nouveau riche.
The show was bold and loud, but the high-wattage gilding on a cowboy jacket would be tempered with a pair of jeans or, better still, a swooshing long denim skirt that brought country and Western into the mix.
The essence of the Creole-born, French-raised designer’s skills is that he can cut a mean jacket or a taut skirt so the intense decoration is on a firm basis. It was also executed at couture level, with a shower of silken fringe falling from the sleeves or loose thread embroideries softening the hard metallic gilding.
Formerly assistant to the departing Balmain designer, and earlier with Roberto Cavalli in Italy, Mr. Rousteing proved his weight in the gold he scattered so liberally on the collection.
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