Balmain’s ‘sexy chic’ rocks Paris

'Balmania' rocked Paris Fashion Week yesterday as designer Christophe Decarnin sent a stunning range of high-octane party-wear and rhinestone-studded evening gowns (pictured) down the covered-over swimming pool at the Ritz hotel for the house of Balmain.
 
Decarnin, who last year banished Gwyneth Paltrow's earth mother image with a sexy black mini-dress, unveiled an Eighties-inspired collection in black, silver and white with just a flash of cobalt blue. While the colour palette was muted, the detail - from glitzy crystals to festishistic boots and from revealing bustiers to slashed jeans - was anything but.
 
The theme was 'Versace takes a trip', wrote Suzy Menkes in the International Herald Tribune. "The Balmain show was as disco as it was frisky and its appeal was simple: sexy chic."
 
Despite Balmain pret-a-porter dresses selling at an estimated starting point of £10,000, the collection was "retail heaven", wrote Lisa Armstrong in the Times. “Clearly Decarnin knows how to sell.”
 
But she added: "Whether this collection was enough to cement his reputation as a serious agenda setter is another question. If you want to wear Balmain while it's still hot, purchase immediately."

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