BALMAIN X H&M DEBUTES IN NEW YORK

10/27/2015

Photo credit: H&M

H&M have long been known for their exciting exciting collaborations. Beginning in 2004, when H&M partnered up with their first guest designer, Karl Lagerfeld, offering a few select stores the exclusive collection. This was set to be the first of many after its success which saw the collection being sold out within the hour.

Fast forward 11 years and we have seen H&M partner up with a string of other designers including Stella McCartney, Versace, Lavin, Isabel Marant and the last collaboration, Alexander Wang.

The latest collaboration is with Balmain x H&M. The collaboration was announced in glorious style by Olivier Rousteing and his friend Kendall Jenner and Jourdan Dunn whilst wearing the collection on the red carpet at the Billboard Music Awards back in May. They had, "kept it a secret for so long, no one could believe we were wearing pieces from the collection" Rousteing told Marie Claire.

Speaking about the collaboration, Rousteing has said he immediately knew he wanted to do the collaboration, wanting to give pieces of Balmain to the whole world. Telling Marie Claire, "My Instagram followers are always telling me exactly what they like from my shows, and what they dream of wearing, so I wanted to give them that collection."

The exciting debut of the collection hit the runway in New York last Tuesday. The venue, 23 Wall Street. An unexpected performance was put on show as The Backstreet Boys performed, as requested by the designer himself, who is apparently a big fan.

As expected the show went off with a bang, with front row current 'it' girl favorites including, Kylie Jenner, Jessica Hart, Martha Hunt and Diane Kruger sitting centre stage.

As Kendall Jenner led the runway in a gorgeous embellished dress, other models followed in a flow of gorgeous pieces, with social media going in to over drive with the Balmain hashtag #HMBalmination.

As for the collection itself? It was almost exact replicas of the designs that walked the Balmain runway, but this time as expected, in more economically priced fabrics enabling a much lower price point.

I personally love the collection, aside from it being a near 'copy' of the original Balmain runway collection the colors, embellishments and belted pieces are just stunning. With beautiful luxe colors and fabrics, gorgeous structured jackets, down to the unique cut of the trousers. Some of my favorites pieces included a gorgeous yellow blouse, paired with lose fitting embroidered trousers, and look 14, the rope designed sleeveless top (available in yellow and black) and the stunning tuxedo style jumpsuit. But honestly, I adore it all, and I wasn't alone. After the debut show, the after-show shopping began, as fans began fighting to get their hands on the collection.

Speaking to WWD after the show, the designer seemed very pleased with the show and the reaction to the collection, “I’m so happy. I’m so proud. It’s like a big achievement as a designer and as a person,”

One of Rousteing's favorite pieces from the collection, this embellished velvet blazer worn by Kendall Jenner that can be worn as a blazer or a dress.

As Eurasian Vogue has reported in the past, the H&M site tends to go into overdrive and shut down as shoppers try and purchase items at the strike of midnight as the collection goes on sale, and I wonder if this year will be any different. With such close replicas of the original Balmain collection, I'm sure this one will, if anything surpass the popularity of previous collaborations. We shall see on November 5th when the collection goes on sale! Click the below gallery to see the entire collection and begin picking out your must have items!