For Pre-Fall 2024, Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing looked 10 years into his past and pulled references from his Miami-inspired Spring 2013 collection for the French luxury house.
The line is largely informed by the Floridian capital’s pastel color schemes and art-deco design language, as well as the Elba villa that the House’s founder, Pierre Balmain, commissioned from Leonardo Ricci.
For Rousteing, this collection is “real” Balmain. In a conversation with Vogue, he said, “There are some [collections] where I go away from the aesthetic of the house, and there are some when I go full on. This one is full on! There’s a lot of joy and a lot of confidence. And in a moment when there is apparently a lot of quiet luxury happening, we should not forget that maybe not everybody only wants a camel cashmere turtleneck.”
Throughout the collection, pastel-colored bags complement check-covered coats, and hits of teal and bright yellow offer a pleasant contrast to otherwise black-and-white ensembles. Palm trees play a significant role in defining the line’s illustrative personality — a crystal-coated jacket, in particular, shapes the aforementioned foliage with a glittering agenda.
In the details, logo-laden briefcases set the Miami cityscape as their backdrop, and colorful stripes become ideal for the city’s boardwalks. Overall, it’s a line for those looking to book one final summertime stop in Miami — just before next fall hits.
See Balmain’s Pre-Fall 2024 collection in the gallery above.
