Balmain's Great Return
For his grand return to the Paris Men's Fashion Week calendar, Olivier Rousteing wanted to present an extremely joyful collection, in a very dark world. Inspired by the fashion movement called “sapeur”, born in Brazzaville in the 1960s, whose instantly recognizable silhouettes continue to liven up the streets of Kinshasa, Paris and Harlem today.
A lush mix of French tailoring and colorful African prints, whose serious dress code is told through "The 10 Commandments of the Society of Ambiancers and Elegant People." A gold mine for the French designer who reinterprets with this collection sixty years of a legendary style, which has marked decades of men's fashion around the world. The maison 's laboratories worked on a canvas of influences and cultures with Haute Couture precision, on a sophisticated cast that paraded to the rhythm of some of the most beautiful African-American sounds. A breath of fresh air for the Balmain man.
The runway vibrated with colorful silhouettes, designed with an array of inspirations in mind. Be it the unique dandy style of those legendary African “sapeurs”, known for mixing French tailoring and colorful African patterns, or over a century’s worth of African-American musical genius spanning from ragtime to R&B, or the graphic prints of African artists like @princejyesi and @ibbynjoya reimagined for the runway, a resounding message of brazen individuality and unapologetic joy shines through.
