Make way for Balmain sort-of bargains

With a £105 starting price for t-shirts and evening gowns hovering around the £795 mark, this isn’t H&M. But it’s a welcome way into the brand for fans to whom a runway piece has always been out of reach.

‘We see Pierre Balmain as a new and distinct brand that is inspired by the successes and history of a great house, but offers a look and product that respond[s] to the needs and desires of today’s marketplace,’ Alain Hivelin, Balmain chairman and CEO, told WWD.

The new line will land in stores from December, with a major push into international markets.

More interesting, perhaps, than the launch dates and mumbo jumbo about how the new line ‘translates the codes of Balmain in a more casual and relaxed manner’ (Hivelin again), is the fact that Balmain Creative Director Olivier Rousteing will not have a hand in Pierre Balmain’s design.

Before Rousteing succeeded Christophe Decarnin at Balmain in April, we were among the commentators who suggested that excessive obligations and inadequate support had coalesced to make fashion design a high-risk industry. Could it be that by establishing a separate design team, and not even claiming Rousteing’s notional involvement in the spin-off line, Balmain is protecting its investment in its new designer? Or are they just distancing the lead designer of their ultra-expensive line from that which is merely pricey? We’ll have to see...