“Dressmaking is the architecture of movement.

”
Pierre Balmain
BALMAIN
Balmain is a fashion house that was founded by Pierre Balmain.
Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain was a French fashion
designer. Known for sophistication and elegance, he once said
that "dressmaking is the architecture of movement.”

Balmain's father, who died when the future designer was 7

years old, was the owner of a wholesale drapery business.
Balmain studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, but
did not complete his studies. He spent his time there designing
dresses. Balmain then left his architectural studies to work for
the fashion designer Edward Molyneux, for whom he worked
from 1934 until 1939.
In the period following World War II, Pierre Balmain was "a king
of French fashion" and outfitted stars including Ava Gardner and
Brigitte Bardot.

After Pierre Balmain's death in 1982, the house was led by Erik
Mortensen, described by Vogue as Pierre Balmain's "right hand.”
Oscar de la Renta led the house between 1993 and 2001. Under
Pierre Balmain, Mortensen, and de la Renta, the house was
known for its classic, luxurious designs. Today, the house is led
by designer Christophe Decarnin, whose vision for the house is
more modern and edgier. Christophe Decarnin at SS 10
Surface Ornamentation and
Design techniques :
The USP of Balmain
 The use of studded shoes, metallic stone-
encrusted trophy jackets with peaked shoulders,
distressed jeans and super embellished mini
dresses has become synonymous with Balmain. To
say the least, the surface embellishments add a
terrific zing to his garments and any woman would
feel like a supermodel in them.

The USP of the fashion house is such that you can

expect theatrical like drama oozing from the
garments in such a way that one is left to wonder
what a brilliant job Decarnin has done on a simple
body con mini dresses, a simple jacket or skinny
jeans.
It's the kind of shameless pop-
bedazzled energy that won Gianni
Versace a reputation for tackiness in
the high eighties, but also took him
to the top. In other words, yes, it's
a cliché, but so well done only a
true sadist could fail to smile.
SS-10
Christophe Decarnin is the man on whose glittery, highly padded
shoulders rests the success of the whole of the mass market as it
currently stands.

His army of sizzling, sleek-limbed super girls strode out with huge-
shouldered, metal-epauletted military tailcoats. Their T-shirts were
tattered; bullet belts were slung around artfully "destroyed," stained,
and holed jeans or, yet more sensationally, minute, hyper-sexed,
raggedy suede and leather loincloths.

Patching together seventies M*A*S*H and early Versace chain-mailed

goddess-dressing, the show moved from camouflage to sequined
camouflage to patch-worked gold-sequined camouflage without a
flicker of irony.

A belt with bullets arranged in a flower pattern or a military shirt with

shrapnel holes filled in with gold patches was a fashion demeanor
which was highly noticeable.

Tattered t shirts and holed and stained jeans

 Tattered t-shirts and
ragged loincloths as
skirts

Gold patched tops

Metal epauletted Chain mailed dresses Artfully holed and

military tailcoats stained jeans
FABRICS

Gold and
silver lame
Stretch
cotton and
knits
Leather
Rexene
Polyester
Suede
drill
FW 09
Decarnin certainly proved he's the leader of
the disco fever he had single-handedly
triggered this season.
He had the shortest, tightest body dresses
witnessed anywhere: smothered in Swarovski
crystal, flouncing up at the shoulder, tightly
bound in satin drape or quilted, chain-wrapped
black leather.
The cult peaked-shoulder Balmain jacket was
reiterated in force: same signature shape, now
manifested as a leather biker as well as a
tuxedo jacket, and often paired with new
drapey harem pants or skinny jean-cut black
trousers.
Every look was thrust into deep-cuffed suede
boots with a stack of silver buckles running up
the side.

Embellished peaked shoulders and harem pants

A look of
biker chic
glamour:

Studded mini
dresses
Sequined
jackets, tops and
dresses
Embellished
harem pants

FABRICS
Leather
Polyester
Sequin
embellished
net
Poly blends
velour
SS-09
Balmain’s Spring show all bling and rock-chick
fabulousness gave the opening of Paris fashion
week a shot of pure adrenalin. For a girl
looking for an instant backstage pass, this is
the wardrobe that will send her sailing past the
heaviest security on sight.

Drummer-boy Michael Jackson jackets with the

fogging picked out in crystal, soaped-up
stonewashed jeans, bandage-wrap dresses,
sequin-smothered sheaths, teeny tutus,
teetering sky-high diamante-and-stud sandals:
A brilliant new shoulder with a bump-peaked
swagger on jackets and dresses. He's also got
to be credited as the person who's set the
wagons rolling on western (his fringed high-
heel ankle boots were last season's most- Michael Jackson inspired
hunted objects of footwear desire). A black rocker jackets with crystal
suede gown with a rawhide train blazed a trail details and stone washed
that copyists will be following overnight. jeans.
 Swarovski
yoke

Metal studded
Chain mailed bands skirt

Net embroidery and

Swarovski
embellished

Lacquered fabric
patches
Sequin embellished bandage dresses, fully
Sequin appliquéd embellished dresses, belted tutus, trophy jackets Billie jean look
SS-08
A mix of Native Americans and India .It's also
about freedom. Jumping headlong into the
season's nouveau boho trend, he opened with
a strapless dress, its bodice densely beaded
and its long, flowing skirts rendered in a soft,
pastel floral shot through with gold Lurex.
From there, Decarnin wandered through
ponchos, one with a beaded eagle emblazoned
on the chest, as well as sequined smocks and
mirrored mosaic suede vests worn with
slouchy tees and flaring jeans.
The body con dresses came in tie-dye, a
feather print, or beaded macramé. Evident
throughout was the designer's unbridled
affection for embellishment. Confronted with
an unadorned surface, he'll add studs, fringe,
or lacing anything to make his girls sparkle
after dark.
 Feather detail Macramé dress
on the yoke

FABRICS
Cotton Gota and mirror
Chiffon work with
feather detail
Georgette’
Voile Indian-bohemian inspired Zardozi and
Polyester appliqué
Soft knits
Fringed layers

Zardozi and cut

Fringed hem work on the
jacket and fringed
ACCESSORIES AND DETAIL