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Who said that Quiet Luxury<\/b> was dead?<\/p>\n
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Certainly not Antonin Tron, a defector from Saint Laurent and founder of the cutting-edge fashion label Altein, who was catapulted to the helm of Balmain’s creative department last November.<\/p>\n
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For any new creative era, a fashion house has three options for crowning its new creative director: continuity, a break with the past, or, the one that interests us here, a return to its roots.<\/p>\n
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Formerly of Saint Laurent<\/b>, Antonin Tron knows the importance ofcreative heritage<\/b>, especially when comparison with an illustrious predecessor like Olivier Rousteing, renowned as much for his designs as his outspokenness, seems inevitable.<\/p>\n
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Of course, the imprint of figures from the not-so-distant past is clearly visible<\/b>. The military palette of khaki green and pronounced shoulders are undoubtedly reminiscent of the Balmain Army of the Rousteing era<\/b>, while the rock influences of Christophe Decarnin (pre-Rousteing)<\/b> are evident in the leather, slim pants, military jackets, and feline prints.<\/p>\n
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For the rest, the memory of the founder is more prominent than in previous years<\/b>, with silhouettes that are inevitably more \u201cintellectual\u201d and \u201csober,\u201d<\/b> as if to signal a foretaste of a more radical renaissance to come<\/b>. The young designer has found a clever way to mark his territory with the notion of \u201copulent minimalism.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
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This contemporary dive into the archives of Monsieur Pierre Balmain is nonetheless a feat<\/strong> considering the collection’s gestation period<\/strong>: only three months<\/strong> since Antonin Tron’s appointment last November!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The centerpiece<\/b> at the opening and visible throughout the show, the aviator jacket<\/b> takes pride of place. Echoing the proximity of March 8 (International Women’s Day) and its tribute to inspiring role models of yesterday and today, Antonin Tron chose to make reference to Danielle D\u00e9cur\u00e9, Air France’s first female pilot.<\/strong> In other words, a figure who \u201chad to overcome two crashes and generational sexism to pursue her dream, finally taking flight in 1975.\u201d The founder, Pierre Balmain, designed a special uniform for her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Equally overlooked in the history of the House, animal details<\/b> are also part of its emblems. However, Antonin Tron is not content with simply reviving the past: he revisits these feline motifs, notably in caviar pearls<\/b>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Animal references are omnipresent, with crocodile effects on a coat, skirt, shirt, and even boots<\/b>. The latter were created for the occasion from a mosaic of leather panels before being highlighted with caviar bead borders.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another vestige of the House’s past, blistered jacquards with smoke curl motifs, as well as silk<\/b> jacquards, were also developed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another trick used by the current designer was the lack of light<\/b> during the show, which created trompe-l’oeil effects in the colors<\/b> of the suede. Thus, a mundane black turned out to be, in fact, a blood red, a deep green, or even a midnight blue.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n