When Joudan Dunn and Kendall Jenner appeared on the arm of Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing at the Billboard Music Awards earlier this year, they caused a social media frenzy over the announcement that the revitalised French fashion label would be the next collaborator with Swedish fast fashion label H&M.
On his decision to partner with H&M, Rousteing said, “I want to talk to my generation: this is my main aim as a designer. H&M allows me the unique possibility of bringing everyone into the world of Balmain, getting a piece of the dream and creating a global #HMBalmaination: a movement of togetherness, fuelled on a hashtag. The collaboration felt extremely natural to me: H&M is a brand that everybody connects to. It calls for unity, and I am all for it.”
The BBMAs may have given us a first taste of the fabulousness that the Balmain x H&M collection would be, but now, the first image of the collection has been dropped—and we have a feeling the collection is going to be amazing. ELLE France first tweeted the photo of photo of another dress from the collection, and here’s what we know: The dress takes one of Balmain’s most iconic shapes—the long-sleeved mini; it is richly embroidered with the French house’s instantly recognisable latticework motifs and baroque scrolling; and bears Rousteing’s signature rock and roll edge (that gold detailing is love!). We simply can’t wait for it to hit stores.
The Balmain x H&M collection is out in stores on 5 November 2015 in stores worldwide and online, and will carry both clothes and accessories for men and women.
Text by Pakkee Tan
