The H&M Balmain collection is arguably the most anticipated designer collaboration of the season. The Jenner family first broke the news of this collection way back at the Golden Globes by debuting a look on the red carpet.
Balmain's creative director Olivier Rousteing brought the season's ornate embellishments to the collection with lots of gold and sparkling decorations. The color palettes of black, red, gold, royal blue reminded me of the amazing Haute Couture runways of the 1980s.
The big runway debut last night down on Wall Street turned was a giant multi-level runway lit up like a neon nightclub of the 80s. All of the hot models of today, Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss, etc. were there to flaunt the looks. The show opened with a dance crew much like H & M's video for the campaign.
The looks on the runway certainly looked luxurious from afar. The menswear tailoring looked sharp. Faux leather looks indistinguishable from the real thing from images, but the faux fur is a dead giveaway of the fast fashion price point. Closeup, the embellishments are clearly not the Swarovski hand-embroidered lovelies you would find at the Couture level, but the look great anyway. The problem with mass-market and runway versions of these collections versus what you get at the stores is rarely consistent. For one, for runway, the pieces are custom fit to the models, which of course, makes anything look great. Second, runway construction/fabrication is usually nicer than what hits the stores after production technicians work through costs, penny for penny. Yes, to hit those H&M price points, you could lose linings, styling seams and embroideries could be reworked into a print.
Let's see what everything looks like when you get the clothes home.
The best part of the night for all the nostalgia fans? The Balmain H&M runway show closed with a surprise performance by the Backstreet Boys. Awesome. #HMBalmaination forever.
