Anna Selezneva stars in thecampaign and lookbook for Pierre Balmain for Spring 2013, inspired by l’art de vivre and the glamour of Southern France. Typical light-flooded French terraces and romantic hotel rooms built the set for the pictures shot by Karim Sadli. The collection features embroidered dresses and corded trousers as well as some sleek blazers and romantic blouses in modern silhouettes.

Take a closer look at the lookbook on the next page.

Black & white shots, a country-kitchen backdrop, quiet poses, for Balmain’s Autumn 2012 ad campaign, the brand’s trademark charismatic lux, as always  speaks softly but carries a big stick.

See more images as shot by photographer David Sims on the next page.

Rihanna loves her labels! Here’s she’s spotted in House of Holland tights, TopShop shorts and a Balmain fur coat.

A Balmain white  snakeskin pump with a bronze gold heel and toe. If there is a lux label that does rock ‘n’ roll royalty better we know not of it. Via Chicfilles.

H&M is partnering on a capsule collection with the costume designer, Trish Summerville (that’s her in the above image front and center with the blonde mohawkish hair), for the flick Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which opens in December. In the fashion world the movie has already received quite a bit of buzz because Rooney Mara one of the actresses appearing in the movie was featured on the cover of Vogue’s November issue.

As for the collection, it has that Alexander Wang/Balmain, downtown rock ‘n’ roll feel to it, which is hardly new, even for H&M, and yet it’s still a bit of a watershed moment to see this look officially packaged to go mass.

T Magazine just announced cutie Olivier Routseing as the new head designer for Balmain! Read the rest of the story here.Look at that face…

PARIS – BALMAIN has parted ways with Christophe Decarnin as its creative director for women’s ready-to-wear collections, the Parisian fashion house said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Balmain announced ‘the end of its collaboration’ with the French-born designer, whose absence from its fall-winter show in Paris last month prompted rumours that he was suffering from depression.Via BoF.

The Balmain collection that irritated the heck out of NY Times fashion editor Cathy Horyn is now on sale on the label’s site. Looking at it with fresh eyes, all the motorcycle jackets and straight-legged jeans do seem a tad dated, but then again, there’s something decadently appealing about the way the label combines the ultimate casual looks with luxury workmanship as epitomized by the denim shorts on this page. And the Balmain customer seems to agree…a lot of the collection is sold out. That’s what’s weird about the instant reaction to runway shows–it’s sometimes hard to separate the sensational zeitgeist moment, which journalism demands, versus the actual clothes themselves, not to mention the customer who they’re designed to appeal to.

Via Nowness:

When Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin signed on to shoot the fall/winter 2010/11 Balmain campaign starring Kate Moss, they did so as double agents. Without anyone knowing, the renowned fashion photographers set up four surveillance-style cameras to capture Moss’s unbridled performance on set. The short film, titled Everglade, takes its name from the haunting Antony and the Johnsons song that serves as its soundtrack, and premieres on NOWNESS today. It marks the latest instance of the Dutch duo’s intentionally blurring the boundaries of reality. “Surrealism is always there in our work, whether it’s in camera or through computer manipulation,” says Van Lamsweerde. “We’ve had the idea for this video for some time. We are fascinated with the different realities going on in one shoot and so the music, the animation, Kate’s movements and the camera angle represent these layers of perception.” With animated illustrations by artist Jo Ratcliffe (in collaboration with Bouwine Pool for Sherbet), the film not only captures Moss in action, but also aims to represent a fantasy inner world. “We talked to [Ratcliffe] about it being half horror and half Disney,” Van Lamsweerde says, and what evolved is an idiosyncratic take on the behind-the-scenes genre. “It ranges from a sinewy heavy metal feel to a much cuter place,” she sums up.

My first response when I saw Balmain’s Spring/Summer 2011 images from Paris Fashion Week was surprise, as in, wow, they’re going there again?? And at the prices they charge? But my opinion was mild compared to one of the industry’s fiercest critics, Cathy Horyn, whose review I just read on Racked:

“The clothes were great for showing off the models’ long bodies, and so will produce sexy photographs, but punk is now a style cliché. That Balmain is one of the most expensive labels, with a plain undershirt (without holes) costing around $450, makes the notion of a safety-pinned jacket something of a joke—and not even a very clever one.”

Some of the garments Balmain showed are obviously gorgeous and totally covetable (lush punk if you will), however, ever since the appearance on the scene of “that” tee shirt, the recipe for a backlash began to be mixed and this seemingly lazy runway was the final ingredient. How far the ripples extend from this ugly little moment is always hard to say without an inside track.