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Fall in line fashionistas because the ‘Balmain Army’ is coming to the kingdom and this coveted couture will now be affordable for us haute hotties and the fireworks will be blasting again in City Centre Bahrain.
The affordable clothing hotshot H&M has just announced its guest collaboration with the Parisian House of Balmain and the collection promises to echo some of the amazing runway pieces.
It will be available on November 5 (the day the UK celebrates its annual Bonfire Night) but the biggest noise on the fashion front comes across the channel in mainland Europe. With an absolute stronghold on French luxury, under the creative directorship of Olivier Rousteing, Balmain has grown into a global pop-culture phenomenon.
Followers of fashion love the fella, with one magazine scribe oozing the accolades, suggesting ‘with youth comes fearlessness, as this self-assured 29-year-old designer demonstrates with pizzaz’. Rousteing and his celebrity friends Kendall Jenner and Jourdan Dunn recently walked the red carpet at The Billboard Music Awards revealing the first pieces of the collection.
He explained: “I want to talk to my generation – this is my main aim as a designer. H&M allows me the unique possibility of bringing everyone into the world of Balmain, getting a piece of the dream and creating a global #HMBalmaination: a movement of togetherness, fuelled on a hashtag.
“The collaboration felt extremely natural to me. H&M is a brand that everybody connects to. It calls for unity, and I am all for it.”
There’s the promise of an Arabic twist to the collection too. In an exclusive interview with GulfWeekly, he said: “I love the attitude and the glamour of the Middle East. Me and my friends were lucky enough to spend New Year’s Eve in Dubai, and I was so impressed by the way that everyone dressed so amazingly, always looking immaculate and loving what they wore.
“I design for the whole world and I’m inspired so much by the energy of people from so many different countries. It’s a global message of positivity and diversity that you can find in every piece of the Balmain x H&M collection.”
OK, so now that readers are all hyped-up for total ‘Balmaination’, will they have what it takes to join the couture camp and line-up in the queues?
Rousteing remembers joining the stampede for Karl Lagerfeld’s designer looks at H&M back in 2004 when he was only 18. He was quoted saying he waited for three hours to get hold of some prize pieces.
When Rousteing took over the fashion house in 2011 he was delighted to join the likes of Pierre Balmain, Christian Dior and Monsieur Saint Laurent. He wanted to stay true to the archives and keep to the tailoring and embroideries while still creating an edgy signature reflecting his own generation. The Bordeaux-born designer has shown his true craftmanship at the atelier while injecting his sexy, glam-rock aesthetic inspired by his current muse, Rihanna. She apparently ‘could turn him straight’ and since music is his first love it makes perfect sense that the label has spread like a virus through the hip-hop clan.
Founded in 1945, Balmain has always remained true to the vision and spirit of its founder and expresses energy, fun, amusement and freedom, appealing to everybody. And Rousteing has created a unique identity for the house, at once respectful of its couture DNA and rooted in the moment, with a showbiz flair. Highlighting its pop charm through the H&M collaboration came as a natural decision.
With over 17 international labels like Marni, Versace and Alexander Wang that have already come on board, H&M collaborations are amongst the most anticipated events in the fashion world. Since Balmain attire is notoriously expensive, pulling off the collection was no easy accomplishment. It had to be affordable while still keeping that luxury feel. They had to apparently change the fabrics and use less detailing to make it happen.
“We are excited to have Balmain as our guest designer at H&M and create a truly involved experience for everybody. With its mix of couture spirit and street wear attitude, Balmain owns a unique style, at once opulent and direct, sensual and energetic. It is also closely linked to the show business and music worlds, which adds another element of surprise,” said Ann-Sofie Johansson, creative advisor at H&M.
When the doors open in the first week of November try and snatch these key pieces: The ruched satiny skirt that mimics the runway favourite, navy velvet jacket-dress with the pearl embroidered detail worn by Kendell Jenner in recent media shots and the thigh-high suede boots worn by all the models.
The rest of the collection will have you ‘glam-rocking’ anyway with skin-tight tailored faux leather pants, satin plazzos, full detailed structured jackets and blazers, chunky metal and jewelled accessories along party-shine metallic dresses.
Available from November 5, in Bahrain and 250 stores worldwide and online, the collection will feature clothing and accessories for both women and men.
Past H&M Designer collaborationsPast Style icon collaborations
