Balmain anyone? A look at Olivier Rousteing as creative director of the brand

I have to say I think Olivier Rousteing is doing a fabulous job after taking over the Balmain fashion house from Christophe Decarnin in 2011.















For those of you that are not up to date with your Balmainpedia, Balmain is a French fashion house created by Pierre Balmain in the 1940's. Balmain along with Christian Dior and Cristobel Balenciaga has been credited in bringing couture back to fashion after the second world war. The brand became rather famous following the war with devotees of the brand including Ava Gardiner and Brigitte Bardot. Under Pierre Balmain the brand got a reputation for being classic, luxurious and elegant- a traditional that was upheld during the tenure of Erik Mortensen (1982-1993) and Oscar de la Renta (1993-2002). A major shift in Balmain came when it was under the helm of Christophe Decarnin (2002-2011). He while staying true to the brand, made it much more modern and avant grade. Suddenly Balmain was everywhere, every magazine wanted to feature Balmain and every fashionista wanted to be featured wearing Balmain.

However, before people could get over crediting Decarnin over breathing fresh life into the brand he surprised the fashion world by announcing his plans to leave. Reasons for why he was leaving went from artistic differences with M Alein Hivelin (owner of the company) to rumours about severe depression.

Either way the fashion world waited in anticipation to see Olivier Rousteing being named creative director of Balmain. It was an internal promotion as Rousteing was already working for Balmain. Since taking up the post ( an unenviable task given the name and reputation of his predecessors) he has managed to put his own mark without taking away from all that is Balmain. If you look at his recent S/S 2013 collection, it is modern (printed jumpsuits, leather pants and Balmain belts) but also classic (beautiful embroidered dresses and jackets).


Contrastingly, his S/S 2013 collection was rather understated compared to his A/W 2013 collection, which was considered by some critics to be too over the top. Rousteing explained that with this collection he wanted to 'imagine 70's in the future'. This meant lots of embellishment and draping; bright, bold and metallic colours. Harem pants plus silver and gold jumpsuits made a comeback. Think Joan Collins in the sixties with a 2013 twist! It worked for me but if you prefer simple, elegant and understated this was definitely not the collection for you. You would not go to afternoon tea wearing Balmain A/W 2013, you would however go to the most happening club wearing it. It is easy to forget sometimes that Rousteig is still a twenty-something. So to his critics I say he is still young and doing a fabulous job. I am sure his skills will develop as he matures. As he develops within the fashion industry so will his craft. If you are a fan of Balmain please let me know what your thoughts are on the brand as well as its relatively new creative director!

To Lace or not to Lace?

To Lace or not to Lace?

One of S/S 2013 hottest trends happens to be lace. Even though designers were using lace pre 2011, lace made a gigantic comeback when a certain Miss Middleton walked down the isle wearing a Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen lace overlay gown. I am sure we all remember that moment but just incase you missed it (no access to TV and magazines/ not interested in the British royal family/ lived in Mars)  here's a picture. After this appearance it seemed that all the weddings I went to (mostly in UK) had brides wearing gowns with lace overlay. High street had picked up the trend and all high street store were making (mostly poor versions) of lace dresses. It seemed so overdone to me by the following season that I vowed that no lace shall find its way into my closest! I also thought that surely after a year of lace, the fashion industry will get over it's obsession with the openwork fabric. I could not have been more wrong. You only need to see the some of the S/S 2013 collections to see how wrong I was.

Let's start with Oscar de la Renta. Lace was spotted all through his S/S 2013 collection. He used beautiful peach, paste green, sky blue, beige and cream palettes most likely as a homage to spring to create his exquisite line. I had to admit I would happily wear any of these (lace or no lace)!


Moving onto a slightly less formal collection (still formal just not as red carpet as de la renta) Loewe S/S 2013 (Right) also highlights some amazing lacework in their collection. Their collection was very work-to-cocktail chic and I love some of the sheer panelling at the bottom of dresses, another trend which made its appearance felt in Dior gowns worn during the red carpet season.

Not to be left behind Cavalli S/S 2013 (left) had lace work in almost all of its collection. The collection was heavily lace embellished featuring pastel colours.


Burberry S/S2013 showcased (right) some great lace dresses and Burberry signature trenches with lace overlay. I was not a great fan of the lace trench coats but I did like the Burberry Prorsum lace dresses. On the whole it did make for one of my favourite Burberry collections. Interestingly, this season (A/W 2013) lace was a lot less visible in their collection.


To finish off the lace vs no lace segment I had to include the Kings of lace Dolce and Gabbana. I am a HUGE fan of this label as it is probably one of the few labels in the market that cater for curves. I cannot go into a designer store and immediately buy something off-the-rail as I have a hourglass shape. However, the exception is D&G- the mecca for hourglass women! And of course their passion for lace is legendary. I have not seen very many D&G collections that did not include some form of lace. Take for example their S/S 2013 campaign headed by Monica Bellucci. Beautiful dresses on beautiful women!

I guess I concluded from the S/S 2013 collection that I actually am infact quite in love with lace. What about you? Love it or hate it?

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Nicole Kidman in de la renta

I am afraid I am one of those controversial people who DO NOT necessarily love Nicole Kidman. I have nothing against her but she seems a little bland sometimes. Saying that, I am LOVING Nicole Kidman in this Oscar de la Renta fall 2013 gown. This dress was made for her, it fits her like a glove and attracts attention to her beautiful long limbs. She wore it to the Omega Gala ‘La Nuit Enchantee’ at Gartenpalais Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria and paired it with a Roger Vivier clutch and a signature Omega watch. I am rather partial to red lipstick so full marks to her for finishing of her look with a dash of red lippy! What do you think?