Balmain Fall 2014.

Balmain has long been a brand of excess: from the days of former designer Christophe Decarnin to the French fashion house’s latest creative direction with 28 year-old Olivier Rousteing at the helm. For Fall 2014, the lineup was notably less exaggerated: well in Balmain terms. Rousteing expanded on his Pre-Fall 2014 influence of Peter Beard’s early 80′s images of Iman and african safaris, showing cargo-pocketed designs in safari-inspired hues of army green and khaki along with a slew of animal prints and furs.
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An army green leather safari jacket accented with a beaded choker, olive silk trousers, and black and gold strappy booties opened the show on Jourdan Dunn: demonstrating that functionality and texture would be on high, though hints of that metallic glamour would still be in play. The green hue continued on peplum jackets (yes the feminine detail is back again), office-appropriate pencil skirts, embroidered flare skirts, and open-toe booties. Bamboo hoops finished off a large number of ensembles which I rather enjoyed.

 
Prints were feral and fierce with cropped leopard jackets with oversized cargo pockets, belts of the same pattern cinching the waists of leather jackets, pencil skirts, zebra print crop tops with army green leather piping, and so much more.

 
Any piece from Balmain is an investment, thus I gravitated toward the simpler designs including a teal leather cargo jumpsuit (my favorite silhouette of all time), a simple yet form-conscious LBD, a black leather shawl collar jacket, and a satin wrap mini skirt: all pieces that will go down in my wardrobe as classics.

 
We already know that Rihanna will be among the first to sport these designs and I expect she’ll opt for a sexy strappy cutout top, feather mini skirt, and an orange leather chain-detailed high-waist pencil skirt. I also expect to see beauties including Chrissy Teigen and LaLa Anthony in the lineup’s green leather and rope detailed pleated dress, a strapless leopard bustier and royal blue pencil skirt pairing, a furry sweater and feral print mini skirt combination, and a showstopping yellow braided number.

 
What do you think of Rousteing’s latest for Balmain?