So many people have claimed to be, or have been given the mantle of being, the new Versace that it's an almost redundant phrase. But if any brand is where the house of Versace ought to be today then it is Balmain.
Not only because both Gianni Versace and Balmain's designer, Olivier Rousteing, rely on the same key elements to create their bravura collections - emotion and slick technique, married to a genuine love of women and their ability to truly dazzle.
Rousteing's latest runway display, a spring 2013 collection shown in Paris on Thursday, Sept. 27, was a bravura performance, where he blended elements of New Wave, haute glam and Latin rococo grandeur.
Medieval lady knights marched up and down the catwalk, clad in spun gold armor; two-tone gentile rockstars simmered in black and white redingotes; femme fatales emoted in micro check harlequin jumpsuits.
The sheer technical audacity was pretty awesome - from finely spun jacquard guipure tunics that looked like malleable stucco to a divine screen goddess Prussian blue mini cocktail exploding with crystals. Balmain's designer is also a great cutter - his hyper wide shouldered, square gorged jackets and forgiving, nipped at the ankle pants were flawless.
Another thing Rousteing and the late, great Versace share in common: models love to wear their clothes. The catwalk's latest new comer star, pouty-lipped blond Danish beauty Nadia Bender, all done up in crystals and shiny shoulders, jumped up and down for joy backstage as she 'posed' with Rousteing for photos.
'Cuban Latin power, Sade and '90s inspiration. Steven Meisel and Peter Lindberg's shoots, the power years of the '90s, when Linda Evangelista was fighting with her husband in the street in shoots. Powerful women,' said Rousteing, referring to the very glory years of Versace.
Rousteing within just two seasons is already in a league of his own and has taken over Christophe Decarnin's successful ground work to make this a must-see show in Paris. If only the Grand Hotel space would feel a bit more glamourous. Next time make it the Ritz Pool.
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