When I think of Versace, Donatella invariably enters my head. We all know Donatella loves a tan that moves way past the stage of blending in. Blending in is definitely clearly not her forte, but in bag design that’s actually a strength. After all, you desire your consumers to perk up at something wow. Versace tries to woo us with their concepts of wow : 80’s articulations of excess blingy-ness, opulent glam and ornate details. Unfortunately, most of the days it constantly falls short.
Balmain in some ways reminds myself of
Versace: they both don’t put a lot of resources into their hand bags from the
looks of it. Under Olivier Rousteing, luggage are more modern, but still give
off a feeling of contrived excess (though Balmain really does this more with a
sense of superiority). The Balmain emblem becomes too much of a focal point,
which I can’t help but think looks like a religious seal for a cult. Weirdly
though, when Balmain marries it with the 80’s – the thunderbolt seen on so many
rock album covers of the day and in comics like Flash Gordon- it’s a fun change
from the spartan colours the brand typically uses and movements away from
Balmain’s recent obsession with the military. It really needed to stop taking
itself seriously and here we have just that.