Ageing Like A High-quality Wine

Having grown up in Bordeaux, France, Olivier Rousteing‘s childhood was punctuated by reminiscences of his mom’s trench coats, picnics on the grass and the area’s famend wines—all of which he paid homage to in Balmain’s Fall/Winter 2024 present.

In a enjoyable nod to his upbringing, grapes we in abundance amongst printed silk attire, bead and crystal work, chandelier earrings, bag charms, brooches, woven in tapestry materials, embossed on leather-based, and, a private favorite, in shiny steel clutches that seemed ripe for plucking.

A kaleidoscope of textures introduced life to each look, from velvet and plissé to furry sleeves and glass bodices. There was additionally the coil of snail shells all through, a tongue-in-cheek reference to escargot, highlighted in assertion earrings, fastenings on belts and footwear, and whilst a gilded breastplate.

The nostalgic throwback to childhood picnics via basket baggage, cork leather-based, and gingham—crystalised in a floor-length costume, printed on silk, and blown up in fluffy and puffy outerwear—was notably intelligent. Elsewhere, his mom’s affect was felt with different iterations of trench coats, however he stamped them with energy shoulders and glamorous {hardware} as Pierre Balmain would.

However past the extra literal insights into his childhood was one other thematic tone to this assortment that celebrated ageing. Not simply within the grapes that adorned clothes and accessories or the diverse vary of fashions he tapped for the runway, however the assortment as an entire, whether or not deliberately or not, spoke to the concept magnificence comes over time.

In a time the place artistic administrators are chopped and adjusted, and we decide up and toss developments round at a whim, Rousteing, supported by certainly one of his greatest collections with the house to this point, instils a strong message that there’s no dashing a great factor. Identical to essentially the most coveted wines, the years can solely deepen us.