Balmain Fall Winter 2023 Collection

No one does a Paris Fashion Week spectacle like Olivier Rousteing. The Balmain creative director has explored the idea of a consumer-directed fashion festival format for the past few seasons, offering the public tickets to shows that go above and beyond the average industry-focused defilé. But for the fall winter ’23 collection at Paris Fashion Week, the designer toned it down, not just in going with a smaller audience and venue, but in the collection itself.

Retro shapes and colors dominated the collection, from asymmetrical wide-lapel tuxedo jackets to pussy bow tops and off-the-shoulder wrap tops, all with a vaguely late ’70s, early ’80s couture influence. Rousteing’s flair for embellishment was still there, especially in pearls, but on the retro shapes it had a different feel. Footwear was simple but also elegantly retro; many pumps in velvet with simple strass detailing or patent pumps with high vamps.

“We’re aiming to steer clear of any fashion-week hyperbole and, instead, we’re shining the spotlight directly upon the enduring power and singular sustainability of timeless designs created by Paris’ finest artisans,” Rousteing said in the collection’s show notes.

See all the looks from the runway here.