Obviously a huge fashion house, Balmain has become even more prominent in the past year with stars such as Shailene Woodley, Alessandra Ambrosio and every Kardashian/Jenner imaginable donning their sharp designs. Thus, with their undeniable success and stellar collection, it is only fitting that they beat out the others and join in on my springtime style party.
Known for their strong style aesthetic, Balmain brought this is abundance to the Spring/Summer collection with lines, shapes, symmetry and cut-outs being the major themes seen throughout. Like Alexander Wang’s collection (seen here), Balmain used black, white and colour to piece his collection together so let’s do this in good old chronological order and begin with the start of the collection.
Balmain kicked things off with these two stunning white ensembles – talk about a strong opening! The first look seen embodies many aspects of the show with the crisp white, deep plunging v and the triangular cut-out. What pulls the look together for me, however, is the gorgeous choker accessory and the sheer, flowing skirt, which makes the model look like she’s walking on air. If ever there was a Naomi Campbell moment for a young model, this is it. The lower look is also eye catching with the strong shoulders, deep v and chunky belt all adding up to be more than pleasing to the eye.
Here’s a closer look at that choker:
Next, Balmain brought bold lines into the equation with black making a major impact, but with different results in my opinion. In the top picture, the black lining is definitely what gives the outfit its oomph. Although clean, impactful, stylish and a strong look, it’s not my favourite in the show, however. Moving onto the blue ensemble, this is a low point in the show. Yes, there is nothing necessarily wrong with it, but what is there that’s good to say? It’s boring, forgettable and I don’t like the shoes. Essentially, it’s just underwhelming. Finally, the third look saves this part of the collection. The strong concept, the reoccurring deep plunge, the stunningly designed striped pant – everything about this design is a win. The model simply looks chic and sexy and this is a look which can be sexed up even more as shown by Cara Delevigne during Paris Fashion Week 2014 when she removed the bra top and added a chunky belt.
Returning to white, it’s as if Balmain can do no wrong. With killer style, amazing designs and those exquisite cut-outs, all of these looks are eye catching. Yes, the middle one might have a bit much going on, but what I like about it is that all of the pieces are individually stylish, easily enabling ladies to inject their own personal style. Of the three, the latter is the out and out winner. The four band top is just sensational and again, the accessorizing in beyond perfection.
Like some themes seen thus far, bumblebee yellow seemed to soar on Joan Smalls yet dwindle in the second look. The yellow and black dress is sexy and svelte and the black lining with the high waist cut-outs is a very attractive paring. The top, jacket and pant combination is not one which goes well for me, however. I do think that the model look somewhat stylish overall, but when you dissect the look, the top, the ugly jacket and the neither here nor there pants all fail to impress.
Black and white dominated the next chunk of the collection, with cut-outs, lines and sheer being seen everywhere. All in all, there were just way too many looks to choose from/way too much to say about each, so as to avoid your utter boredom I’m going to pick my favourites and my least favourites and show you them here:
Best of the black and white:
(I love the second look with the quirky model – perfect pairing!)
The downfalls/boring pieces:
The next three looks had colour returning with a bang! These looks may seem a bit odd and I can absolutely see how some people might not warm to them, but I can see a quirky fashionista make these work flawlessly (yes, even the middle one). For some reason, the one starlet who keeps popping into mind when evaluating these looks is Solange Knowles – gorgeous afro and all!
Rouge red then made an appearance and unfortunately so. The colour is chic, sexy and a welcome sight in the first look with the styling and the addition of black once again knocking it out of the park, but that came to a sudden halt in the lower looks. The second and third outfits are just boring, utterly unimaginative and worse than everything else – unattractive. In my opinion, they should have been scrapped from the collection!
Then came the typhoon of colour which was an overall miss. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that there are way too many colours here. Personally, I love colour and I believe that it is a way to express who you are, but when there are this many colours with this many patterns I just tend to get a bit of a head ache. The first and third looks are by far the worst, but there is honestly no look here that is a winner for me. I do think that the tops in the last two looks are by far the stars of this section (particularly the second last), but paired with the outfits they loose their chance to shine.
To end my review, I have this spectacular, sapphire blue gown. This look was actually in the midst of the colour sector of the show, but it is so pretty that I didn’t want to lump it in there. There are so many beautiful aspects of this dress; the gorgeous blue colour, the triangular point at which the blue ends, the sheer-effect netting, the sequined black halter, the black belt to finish it off – this is another look which is a collection stand-out and is the perfect way to finish my post.
As always, let me know if you agree and/or disagree with anything in my post and make sure to follow the blog on facebook. Tomorrow, we will move onto the C’s and have even more springtime style for you to fall in love with.
Pictures are from: fashionising.com.
Author: Pádraig Power.
landofpod 