Balmain - Return of the Power Shoulder

In 2009 Balmain's head designer, Christophe Decarnin, led the way in bringing back the power shoulder of yesteryear with his tailored jackets featuring angular padded shoulders, slim sleeves and drawn in waists. 1980's excess was clearly a subconscious influence in his collection, which evokes a sense of nostalgia for women's power dressing of the 80's. There are also obvious influences from Yves Saint Laurent's tuxedo style Trouser Suits of the 70's. This throwback to a sense of frivolous exuberance and decadence throughout his collection was, at least in some part, in response to financial doom and gloom of the global economic crisis at the time.