PFW AW16: Balmain

BALMAIN’S creative director Oliver Rousteing newly uniformed Balmain army for AW16 and – curiously enough – newly coiffured while he was at it. Mixing up the dye jobs, Gigi went brunette, Kendall went dirty blonde, Rousteing caused quite the supermodel stir presenting top models of the moment in breakneck Balmain mini-dresses, with thrilling frills, coat-hanger shoulders and piercing peplums with mixed up dos.

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Back to the clothes that the fashion pack came out to see, however, AW16  saw Rousteing taking the astutely militant approach as always, only softening this with a baby blue and pink pastel hues and a few more frothy, and much less graphic than season’s past, frills. Dipping into baroque aesthetics complemented this, if all or nothing is your thing, as well as lace and fox fur inserts pieced in lines dependent on the lengths of skirts, some which went floor length.

If skirts of Gone with the Wind curtain extremes didn’t graze the floor it was up to suede boots to graze the highest point of the upper thigh. Either way, someone has seriously curtailed Rousteing’s love for putting a lot of leg on show, whatever the season.

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Once everyone had got over the shock of seeing different hair colours and the latest Balmain offensive came to a close, seeing the final procession of all the pieces did show a certain progression on the part of Rousteing. A softer side perhaps, and if not, at least a willingness to bring more intricate aesthetics into his clear cut world of empowered supermodel soldiers.  A world that for the most part we can’t find all the much wrong with.

by Liam Feltham

Images courtesy of Balmain