“FORGET TRENDY DESIGNER LABELS. JEANS, A SWEATER OR A T-SHIRT WORN UNDER A JACKET THAT
SEEMS WELDED TO YOU. WHEN IT’S JUST RIGHT, WHEN YOU DON’T SEE THE EFFORT, IT’S 
IRRESISTIBLE.”                     - Emmanuelle Alt | <Vogue Homme International> SS09

That kind of ‘effortless’ seems to be creeping on Balmain homme so far. The third collection for the brand, I guess we know where this is heading, or they want to head by now. French allure mix with a bit of roll ‘n rock and Americano? If you’re looking for real designs for what you pay for, this is not the place. This is more about bank breaking consumerism/commercialism instead of groundbreaking. 

At fashion forum, some commented: “Not conducive to a luxury house…” Or “This should go straight to Zara…” These are the kind of responses you get towards Balmain Homme. No doubt it’s lack of creativity to many, they consider this is to satisfy fashion victims even; but I think many brands are like this, they just want to moonlight menswear, dip it in lightheartedly, when focusing on women’s, (Viktor & Rolf for one). However, I must say the details are good, especially on the  tailoring category. It was covetable enough and I always have fun wearing. I mean, there’re lots of designer items that’d break the bank and look utterly plain in the market. This- at least make one look stylish, presumably.

It really depends on what you look for. Undoubtedly so, Emmanuelle Alt’s influence at Balmain (and Isabel Marant for that matter) is equally powerful as Carine Roitfeld’s to Tom Ford at Gucci back in the 90s. All I know is, not only the most popular posts are under the two words ”Balmain Homme” here in this site, but it has been the most searched terms for people to link in from search engines too. What does it indicate? Men are craving for it, curious about, and probably take it as a Dior Homme substitute, something that men can easily adapt to. 

Shop Balmain Homme AW09 online here or here.   (*all pix from WWD)