Paris Fashion Week: Balmain SS21
Balmain, once again, proved itself more digitally-savvy than any other brand – even if, we must say, this fashion months had some interesting ideas, more than the previous one in July for sure. Olivier Roustaing is young and sly, and this is enough to make all the difference. The fashion show has been live-streamed on all the digital platform you can think about, LinkedIn as well. Together with the “real” public, the one physically attending the show, one side of the runway was dedicated to the digital guests, editor, buyers and so on who assisted to it remotely. Not only they could see the runway on they screens, but the runway could see them, thanks to dedicated screen linked to their personal webcam. Instead of people sitting on the front row, there were screen from which guests look at the show in a sort of video call, their heads looking out of a “pixeled” window. A show in the true sense of the word.
The 103 looks are a smart mix of archive pieces and ultra modern aesthetic. We should probably say futuristic aesthetic, since, starting from the very beginning, garments are structured and could fit in a spaceship. Fluo colours and tops/dresses in stretch fabrics enveloping the bodies like a sort of cobweb. After that, a group of six models in grey-tailored suits waled the runway together. They look classic and elegant but their shapes and proportions are avant-guard.
Rousteing’s art is difficult to tell. It lives of a personal form of expression, which is indeed made of clothes, and it is very hard to translate in other languages. Just looking at the looks is enough to be trapped into a fantasy world where, as Rousteing himself declared, technology has a great part, but emotions are still the most important thing – emotions based on the sight and the touch and the oldest form of expression, which is making clothes and wearing them.
Cover image courtesy: gorunway.com by Filippo Fior
