Going by their Fall/Winter 2009 collections, Balmain’s Christophe Decarnin seems to have influenced everyone from Roberto Cavalli for his Just Cavalli line to Peter Dundas for his first stab at Emilio Pucci – not to mention the abundance of ballooning shoulders and 80’s excess that we’ve seen pop-up from New York to London to Milan.
That said, with so many designer doing the 80’s glam look that Decarnin has perfected at Balmain, part of me expected to see something totally fresh and different from the designer this season. Not so, as the designer stuck with what he knows best – structured shoulder emphasis, intricate beating and stud-work, curve-hugging uber-short dresses, and fitted blazers were all out in full force.
Though this season Decarnin added long black silk trains to a handful of his cropped dresses (most of them easily imaginable on Balmain-lover Carine Roitfeld), the collection felt somewhat repetitive and it didn’t seem to build upon what the designer showed last season – even the color palette felt redundant from last season.
However, the collection was wholly covetable and it’s hard to blame a designer for sticking with what he does best.
Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.
