BALMAIN ANNOUNCE NEW DESIGNER AND BY GOD HE'S BEAUTIFUL

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Olivier Rousteing, the new head of design at Balmain.

NEWS JUST IN: This beautiful man is now in charge of Balmain, following the departure last month of Christophe Decarnin due to health problems.  In one swoop the sobriquet of "worlds most beautiful fashion designer" has left one Olivier (Theyskens) and is now firmly pinned to the above, Mr Olivier Rousteing.

Paris, April 26th 2011. The house of Balmain is pleased to announce the appointment of Olivier Rousteing as its new Designer. Mr. Rousteing will supervise the design and development of the brand’s men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections.

Rousteing is currently in charge of the Women’s Wear design studio at Balmain, a position he has held since 2009. Before joining Balmain, Rousteing worked for five years at Roberto Cavalli, where he was promoted to the position of Designer for the women’s and men’s ready-to-wear collections.

Olivier Rousteing was born in France and raised in Bordeaux. He completed his fashion studies at Paris’s École Supérieure Des Arts Et Techniques De La Mode (ESMOD) in 2003.

HOW MUCHHH???

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Sometimes the luxury end of the fashion industry floors me with how out of touch it can be with those of us who live what I would term "ordinary lives." I live a fairly ordinary life. In my ordinary life, I need a pair of shorts to run around in on holiday. And what better than a pair in khaki canvas, a bit like the ones above. Here they are again in detail: 

This is the bit of the post in which I become indignant, self righteous and shocked, for these shorts by Balmain cost £1,105 on Net-a-Porter. Even typing in the figure makes me ripple with laughter. £1,105!!!! Hahaha. My friend Iqua showed them to me. I can see her now shaking her head at the ridiculousness of it. I quite agree. Between us we have clocked up some 30 years in this business and we have never seen such a bonkersly overpriced garment. This is inverse Balmainia. The people who run the label have clearly lost their grip on even the outer fringes of the real world.

WHY does this pair of shorts cost £1,105? What about the production of them makes them so expensive? Their cost price must surely be no more than £30-40. To my eyes nothing can justify the cost, except perhaps that somewhere an Oligarch's status-obsessed wife is willing to pay £1,105 for them because in her world Balmain is cool. If that is the case, then we are talking exploitation. Whatever way you look at it, it's wrongheaded.

There are pairs almost identical to these shorts in TopShop and New Look (it took two minutes to find them online). Here is the New Look pair at £10.

 

There is a difference between the two, but they are not £1,095 different.

For those of you with more money than sense you can buy the Balmain ones here.

The New Look ones can be purchased here.

Images: Net a Porter and New Look

AW 10 PARIS FALL-OUT: FROM BALMAIN TO CELINE

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

We're all home from the fashion weeks now. Hope y'all enjoyed my Tweets from the shows!

The Haider Ackermann finale

Yesterday I gave myself a day off. Lounging in a navy Juicy tracksuit (I know...) I watched Cash in the Attic and Bargain Hunt before cooking a wickedly hot and delicious fish curry. Good times.

While enjoying the mundane motions (or rather lack them) of a Duvet Day, the back of my mind was still whirring with what Had Gone On At The Shows. With more people blogging, tweeting and reporting straight from the catwalks than ever before, it felt more appropriate for me to bring you the fruits of some prolonged throught.

Paris clinched the change that has been occurring and manifesting since last season. For your information the DNA of the way we dress has already changed; you just don't feel it yet. The fashion media of which I am part are calling it - new minimalism, grown-up dressing, modern elegance, the return of elegance - all sorts. And it is all of that, but more than anything after all the craziness of elevated platform heels, enormous shoulders, and the tyranny of bodycon, this change is, in my opinion, a pressing of the reset button. Somewhere we can start again from. Phew!
Hopefully you will  understand what I am getting at by the end of this post.

I feel these fashion changes more than most. Like a fisherman who can sense a weather change, I've got a sixth sense for fashion future and it can be rather personally affecting. Eg. I can no longer wear jeans. Just can't bring myself to do it. Also, was wearing my old Chloe and Helmut Lang tailored trousers in lieu of having no decent trousers to wear for London. Then Oh! I bought myself a pair from Celine and Ms Mower donated to me a pair by Ohnetitel...... Happiness!

The fashion reset can be summed up pictorially by showing you what is considered the height of zeitgesity fashion for this, the Spring/Summer 2010 season, and then what makes it look wrong...

BALMAIN SPRING/SUMMER 2010.

So, how do you feel about these images?  For me they sum up what is not fashion now. If I see another sequin legging, big-shouldered blazer, aged, ripped T-shirt or worn-in jeans I will scream. Just like that I cannot stand the sight of them; and it is officially not even Spring yet. When I saw the French Vogue women out in Paris at the shows still working a vaguely Balmain look (these women heavily support Balmain as a brand, and work on the shows and campiagns) I felt they were so out of touch with the new mood of fashion. And when Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga banned them from attending his show for their various corporate consultancies with labels such as Balmain, Marant and some sort of issue related to a stylist in his employ - it seemed that their time as arbiters of taste was up for now, at least.

So, lets move onto what feels right. I'm not saying this is what we will be wearing tomorrow; but the reality check that is correcting our notions of what is thought of as modern style is contained within these images.

CELINE AUTUMN/WINTER 2010

Looking at these images makes me feel better. Already.  These clothes are sexier than Balmain; aimed at women with style and self-respect. It isn't just Celine that represents this change in the pace of fashion from trashy to lovely. Chloe and Stella McCartney are also redressing the notion of fashion - no doubt spurred on by the bar set by Celine designer Phoebe Philo's debut at Celine last October. This week belongs to Phoebe Philo, the British designer who is my age and lives up the road from me. As a designer she is very closed-off to the press, talking only to the select few journalists she has known since day one. I have so many questions to ask her.....

For now, though I leave you with THE JUMP: from Balmain to Celine in six months. Can it be done? And how?

PICTURE CREDITS: CHRIS MOORE/CATWALKING