Thu, 10/01/09 — 01:44:58 PM
>> With Laduree macaroons catered backstage and Rihanna arriving half an hour late to sit front row, Daria Werbowy opened (and closed, and walked in the middle of) the Balmain show — her only show for the season — in the gilded, marbled ballroom of The Grand Hotel.
Christophe Decarnin's strong shoulders and ripped jeans were still present, but gone were the '80s. This season, “it’s warrior women and the military, with a mix of different times and a touch of Mad Max," he told Suzy Menkes; stylist Emmanuelle Alt's personal style was prevalent as ever, particularly in the pants-and-jackets combinations.
Since Decarnin took over at Balmain in 2006, the brand's ready-to-wear sales have double each season, according to CEO Alain Hivelin, and next season brings an eyewear collection with Oliver Peoples. The brand's much-buzzed-about $2,000 jeans are priced as such because, Hivelin says, certain pieces receive hundreds of hours of embroidery or have been reworked up to 50 times before they hit retail. But here's irony for you: Decarnin picks up his own wardrobe at army surplus stores.
Sat, 09/12/09 — 07:38:57 PM
>> Balmain To Do Sunglasses with Oliver Peoples, Plus a First Look at the Spring 2010 Shoes —Balmain is debuting sunglasses in collaboration with Oliver Peoples on its Spring 2010 runway, according to the latter company's Twitter. For a clue as to what Christophe Decarnin has in mind for the season, check out the preview of Balmain's Spring 2010 shoes, as posted by Bazaar's Mary Alice Stephenson — gladiators with navajo-style beading. [Oliver Peoples Twitter, Mary Alice Style Twitter]
Mon, 08/03/09 — 12:57:53 PM
>> Last week we had a first peek at the inaugural issue of POP, rebooted with Dasha Zhukova at the helm, and now, courtesy of an ad run in the just-released September 2009 issue of Vogue UK (with Kate Moss on the cover), we have a little preview at the second issue of Katie Grand's new baby, LOVE.
They took the same tactic for the first issue — so the image at left isn't the cover, but rather from an editorial within — but the theme seems to be "New Blood: The Young and the Reckless," with some inclusions listed that have been raising eyebrows — Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers, for instance. Also making the teaser: 13 year-old Style Rookie blogger Tavi.
Also playing the preview game: Self Service »
Tue, 07/14/09 — 03:10:34 PM
>> Balmain Foraying Into Handbags —For those jonesin' to add a spangled bag to their collection of strong-shouldered jackets and glittery minidresses, Christophe Decarnin hears you. He's added about a half dozen handbags — including black leather messenger bags paved with crystals or studs and a fringed bag with silver hardware — to the pieces offered up to buyers as part of Balmain's Cruise 2010 collection. [WWD]
Thu, 04/16/09 — 04:35:24 PM
>> INSIDER WIRE —Christophe Decarnin's Balmain creations have earned more than a couple of comparisons to Michael Jackson's style, but when Jackson himself was spotted wearing a Fall 2009 Balmain top recently, it threw the blogging world for a loop. It might be an idea to get used to, however — apparently Vogue Paris fashion director (and Balmain creative force extraordinaire) Emmanuelle Alt is "100% obsessed" with Jackson . . . that's how he came to wear the top. And she "would weep" if he allowed Balmain to do his comeback tour costumes. [The Imagist]
Thu, 03/05/09 — 05:43:08 PM
>> INSIDER WIRE —Is Nicholas Ghesquiere feeling the pinch of Balmania? Until this season when he switched to Hotel Crillon, he always showed in the Balenciaga studio — some suggested the move was prompted by Balmain's move to the Ritz. His decision to go '80s (albeit '80s Yves Saint Laurent) for Fall 2009 has some responding, "Looks like the Balmain has made all the French directionals nervous, no?" And perhaps the icing on the cake, his declaration backstage that “High tech is over. And the clubbing," which could be construed as a dig at Balmain's club-centric aesthetic . . . no wonder if Nicolas is sweating a bit, considering all the hoopla at Balmain today.
Thu, 03/05/09 — 12:38:22 PM
>> Christophe Decarnin has launched the fashion set into Balmania in just a few short seasons with his ripped jeans, strong shoulders, and trashy chic approach, and with Fall 2009, he's not ready to change the formula. Apparently, the big shoulders were so prevalent in the front row that it caused a squishy situation — and on the runway, two models almost got gridlocked due to their hulking shoulder pads. Christophe, who stopped by the Prada party last night, admitted he was "a bit nervous," and rightly so — all eyes are on him.
He worked with a simple color palette — black, silver, and white, with a few pops of electric blue — placing the attention on the short, short skirts and the rhinestoned everything. Erin Wasson, Angela Lindvall, and Carmen Kass all made appearances on the runway, and Giuseppe Zanotti did the shoes again, but was it enough? I'm hearing a lot of disappointment and frustration with Decarnin's decision to stay so formulaic; as Suzy Menkes put it, the "show looked very familiar — not least because new ideas were as short as the models' brief, buttock-grazing hemlines. Since every other house copies his approach, Decarnin will have to find a way to move Balmain forward. But for now he remains, at this sobering-up moment, the last designer to leave the party."
*image: source
Tue, 03/03/09 — 04:34:53 PM
- In addition to Calvin Klein in New York, Prada in Milan, and Balenciaga in Paris, Givenchy has emerged as a fourth major-model-making platform due to the "increasing power of that show and campaign in giving new girls maximum visibility" [The Imagist]
- Thursday's Nina Ricci show "is almost universally agreed to be designer Olivier Theyskens's last collection" for the brand, and with the recent clash of his $15,000 gowns versus the label's commercial branding, will he give in and make retailers happy or go with his heart? [FWD]
- Hotly anticipated, Rose Cordero has only appeared at Burberry so far, but COACD seems to know something we don't . . . [COACD]
- Rochas is relaunching with Marco Zanini in charge; An insider who attended a preview last week "showed much enthusiasm for the line" [FWD]
- Is Balmain the new Balenciaga? It's Balmania out there: Christophe Decarnin's Spring 2009 glitzy '80s moment permeated Fall 2009 collections from New York to Milan, and his $1,500 jeans are still flying off the shelves, even in this economy [FWD]
*image: source
Fri, 10/17/08 — 02:27:51 PM
>> He's the man who brings you $1,500 Balmain cotton t-shirts — and those are the cheapest; They go up to $3,000 if you want sparkles. Balmain is the word on everyone's lips — buyers, fans of fringed boots — and the fervor is reaching a fever pitch.
Christophe Decarnin came out of nowhere to head the house in 2005, and with every collection he does for Balmain, sales have doubled. Cathy Horyn does a profile of the "colorless and shy" designer in the Women's Winter Fashion issue of T Magazine, examining why Balmain has been so successful in such a short time, especially when Decarnin took over the ailing house from "the fiasco of its last designer, Laurent Mercier, who liked to dress up as Jayne Mansfield and have people call him Lola." So who and what does Decarnin, with his "French permagloom, his pale arms crossed over his white T-shirt, his black hair in greasy strands," and his "short, pathetic answers" have to thank for all the success?
The supercool girls.
"Balmain has become the label of the supercool girls . . . the girls in London and Paris who work as assistants at fashion magazines, design studios and P.R. firms, or who have some terrific family-tree connections they swing from. They’re 21 or 22 years old. Anyway, they’re crazy about clothes. Julia Restoin Roitfeld, whose mother is Carine Roitfeld, the editor of French Vogue, wears Balmain. So does Eugenia Niarchos, Olympia Scarry, Gaia Repossi, Dasha Zhukova and Charlotte Casiraghi, a daughter of Princess Caroline."
He has Vogue Paris, but not the personality. »
Wed, 09/17/08 — 03:11:38 PM
>> BLOWING THE COVER —The New York Times's T Women's Fashion issue for Winter 2008 sounds French-themed: Paolo Roversi photographed Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in Paris last week for the issue; there's a "New French Wave" portfolio of artists, musicians, actors, and directors; and even a profile on Balmain's own Christophe Decarnin. [WWD]
*image: source
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