If the clothes of Christophe Decarnin’s Spring 2010 collection for Balmain were the costumes for a movie, that movie would be Beyond Thunderdome 2: In Da Club.
The clothes are straight from the closet of a post-apocalyptic party girl; they’re equal parts grunge and glam, which continues and builds upon the half dozen or so trends that Balmain single-handedly spawned with their Fall 2009 effort (if you’ve bought any daytime sequins or hard shoulders for fall, thank Christophe Decarnin).
This season was another one filled with military jackets, glitter, epaulets, and deconstruction to the point of near-demolition. But these garments were less glam-industrial and more dystopian-fabulous, which means we got them in shades of gold and bronze instead of silver and graphite.
The glittering tanks that looked a bit like ultrafine chain mail were a standout under the types of jackets that have come to be a Balmain classic under Decarnin – lots of embellishment on top of statement shoulders and a militaristic aesthetic, smart shrunken leather blazers, and a vague marching band vibe here and there. And it sounds ridiculous, and it was, but also incredibly brilliant.
And if you don’t like it, well, too bad. Much of chain retail is going to be ripping off this collection in every way imaginable in a few months, and you’re going to be hard pressed to find something on-trend that doesn’t look like it came from this runway.
Images via Style.com.
