Once the home of Karl Lagerfeld, the Parisian Hôtel de Maisons was Antonin Tron’s chosen venue to showcase his Spring/Summer 2027 collection for Balmain, the French designer’s sophomore show as the house’s creative director. In 1955, before stardom, Lagerfeld began his fashion career as Pierre Balmain’s assistant.
A trio of backstage photos from 1954, taken at one of Pierre Balmain’s shows, were posted on the label’s Instagram page shortly before SS27, serving as a hint for this season’s vision. Tron said the pictures were on his mood board the whole time he crafted the new lineup.
“These images are from Paris of the 1950s, but they could be today. Their sense of fragility and strength feels amazingly modern. The way they catch this crazy rush of women dressed and getting dressed… there’s realness in the glamour, and that’s something I love,” Tron wrote on the images, both in the post’s caption and collection notes, respectively.
Lingerie-style pieces, a recurrent – and current – trend across fashion weeks in the major capitals, were one of Tron’s proposals, inspired by the aforementioned photographs. Corsetry, bras worn as tops, and satin-made micro mini suspender skirts with hanging garters stood out. Pierre Balmain’s couture history and his fascination with opulent animal prints were, too, incorporated in the collection, along with ruching, draping, beading, and embroidery techniques.
Tailoring came into play with a nod to Christophe Decarnin, Olivier Rousteing’s predecessor and Balmain’s creative director from 20005 to 2011. Sharp-shouldered blazers and loose jackets made of eel skin were created using the Balmain classic 1970s pilot jacket as a silhouette reference, previously brought back by Tron in his debut show for the brand. Snake-printed coats and trousers, polished satin pantsuits and oversized jackets aimed to embody the mood of a ‘70s rockstar.
Blended with that were free-spirited, bodycon outlines in ultra-mini dresses, as well as psychedelic scenes of Los Angeles, which were turned into silk floral prints, as if they came out of a Californian fever dream. 1960-dated photos of Michel Foucault in California, while on an LSD trip, were also on the mood board. Tron’s choice of colour recalled the West Coast mineral desert and Hollywood sunrises and sunsets, with black, grey, and ivory paired with pastel green and blush pink, lavender and deep purple, pale yellow and bright gold, burnt orange and bronze.
Back to animal print, the SS27 assortment of wildlife patterns reflected the multitudes of the Balmain woman. A reptile, a feline, an amphibian, or all of them mixed; she’s got the range to choose from.
Words by Ketlyn Araujo
