<\/p>\n
\n\tIt turns out the viral Balmain dress that Tyla wore at last year\u2019s Met Gala was only the tip of the sand castle.<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Wednesday night, Olivier Rousteing devoted his entire spring Balmain collection to the seaside, complete with a strapless dress resembling a post-swim towel wrapped around the torso, macram\u00e9 ensembles with long fringe and seashells galore jangling off clothes, shoes and bags.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe also reprised his molded sand designs for cute bras and bustiers, emblematic of his dive into more streamlined, approachable fashions for the storied house, marking its 80th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n
\n\tThis was a slouchier, more casual Balmain, hinged on billowing sarouel and parachute pants, open-weave sweaters sliding off shoulders, meaty blousons in leather or rugged cottons and draped jersey tops.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn lieu of his densely embroidered dresses, he constructed bra-like tops and flirty tank dresses out of strands of shells and wooden beads piled with abandon, culminating with a stiff bustier that resembled amethyst growing from the body.<\/p>\n
\n\tRousteing returned to the ornate ballroom of the InterContinental Paris-Le Grand, where he paraded his first collection for Balmain 14 years ago, when he was only 26 years old.<\/p>\n
\n\tAmid a furious game of musical chairs at European luxury houses, the French designer is now one of the longest-serving creative directors out there \u2014 and one out to prove that he can dial down the bombast and the fierceness.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou know, I\u2019m known for the Balmain Army that is always fighting,\u201d he mused backstage. \u201cThis time, it\u2019s more about self confidence. This is not armor, this is freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe seaside represents Rousteing\u2019s happy place, and this collection was an attempt to convey that joie de vivre<\/em>, joy being a word many designers are lobbing about this season.<\/p>\n \n\tThe designer was smart to keep this show focused on womenswear as he recalibrates his approach toward softer, simpler options with controlled doses of razzmatazz.<\/p>\n \n\tRousteing is proud of his resilience, and settling into a new phase beyond social media buzz and a broader horizon, just like at the beach.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a recent interview, he told WWD: \u201cWhen you work in fashion, you have those hype moments, and you have those moments where you\u2019re not hype anymore. And I would say to my younger self, \u2018Don\u2019t look for being hype, but look for being timeless, because there is nothing better than staying forever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It turns out the viral Balmain dress that Tyla wore at last year\u2019s Met Gala was only the tip of the sand castle. On Wednesday night, Olivier Rousteing devoted his entire spring Balmain collection to the seaside, complete with a strapless dress resembling a post-swim towel wrapped around the torso, macram\u00e9 ensembles with long fringe and seashells galore jangling off clothes, shoes and bags. He also reprised his molded sand designs for cute bras and bustiers, emblematic of his dive into more streamlined, approachable fashions for the storied house, marking its 80th anniversary this year. This was a slouchier, more casual Balmain, hinged on billowing sarouel and parachute pants, open-weave sweaters sliding off shoulders, meaty blousons in leather or rugged cottons and draped jersey tops. In lieu of his densely embroidered dresses, he constructed bra-like tops and flirty tank dresses out of strands of shells and wooden beads piled with abandon, culminating with a stiff bustier that resembled amethyst growing from the body. Rousteing returned to the ornate ballroom of the InterContinental Paris-Le Grand, where he paraded his first collection for Balmain 14 years ago, when he was only 26 years old. Amid a furious game of musical chairs at European luxury houses, the French designer is now one of the longest-serving creative directors out there \u2014 and one out to prove that he can dial down the bombast and the fierceness. \u201cYou know, I\u2019m known for the Balmain Army that is always fighting,\u201d he mused backstage. \u201cThis time, it\u2019s more about self confidence. This is not armor, this is freedom.\u201d The seaside represents Rousteing\u2019s happy place, and this collection was an attempt to convey that joie de vivre, joy being a word many designers are lobbing about this season. The designer was smart to keep this show focused on womenswear as he recalibrates his approach toward softer, simpler options with controlled doses of razzmatazz. Rousteing is proud of his resilience, and settling int…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}