Kris Jenner and Kanye West were in the front row at Balmain today. And Kim Kardashian West was on the runway. Well, not in the flesh. But Kendall Jenner and the rest of Olivier Rousteing’s supermodel crew were certainly doing their best impressions of her. There were the blonde extensions Kendall was sporting (Kim went platinum for Kanye’s fashion-show-slash-record-listening-party in New York last month). There were the head-to-toe monochrome neutrals (icy gray, pale pink, and beige) that Kim prefers to wear. And there were the padded bubble miniskirts, modeled, it seemed, off of Kim’s pneumatic curves. “Curves are really important today,” Rousteing said backstage, “because the women of today are really curvy, and they’re an inspiration, like hip-hop stars, reality stars.”
Rousteing has often touted diversity on his runways, not just in terms of race or nationality, but also of age. Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell—50, 45, and 45, respectively—star in his Spring ad campaign. He gets props for that. But if he’s really going to tackle the shape issue, he should put his money where his mouth is and enlist truly curvy girls next season. And we don’t mean Victoria’s Secret curves, we mean curvy curves. Kim curves. After all, as Kanye West put it afterward: “She’s the source; the whole collection is based on Kim.”
The show’s corsetry and its metallic waist-shaper belts put the emphasis squarely on the rounded and uplifted derriere. Beyond that, Rousteing’s message for Fall was about the decorated body: pearl-encrusted and tasseled poitrines, lacy legs undulating with ruffles, rococo beaded embroideries on clingy velvet and sheer mesh, and hyper-fitted tailoring in tapestry silks. Like Kardashian West, Rousteing’s Balmain provokes love-it-or-hate-it reactions. There seemed to be more of the latter in the crowd assembled today. But, also like his famous muse, he isn’t giving an inch on his super-flashy vision. And why should he? Sales are up season over season, and the New York store is finally opening this Spring.
