Balmain SS27: Antonin Tron's second collection at Lagerfeld's former home; Pierre Balmain's backstage photographs turned into corsets and half-pinned dresses; the California desert
Antonin Tron's second Balmain collection showed at 13:30 on 30 September in the Hôtel de Maisons, the Paris mansion Karl Lagerfeld once lived in. Lagerfeld joined Pierre Balmain in 1955 as his assistant, after winning the International Wool Secretariat competition.
Tron was named creative director on 12 November 2025, succeeding Olivier Rousteing after his fourteen years, and showed his first Balmain collection in March. He launched his own label, Atlein, in 2016, after years at Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Balenciaga. Here he set the house's early backstage photographs against California's desert counterculture, and made the clothes from both.
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The post, as it ran
01ANTONIN TRON'S SECOND COLLECTION FOR BALMAIN WALKED ON 30 SEPTEMBER AT THE HÔTEL DE MAISONS, KARL LAGERFELD'S FORMER PARIS HOME.
02LAGERFELD STARTED AT BALMAIN IN 1955, AS PIERRE BALMAIN'S ASSISTANT.
03TRON FOUND BACKSTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS OF PIERRE BALMAIN'S EARLY SHOWS, THE MODELS HALF-DRESSED BETWEEN LOOKS.
04THEY BECAME BRA TOPS AND CORSETED TOPS, AND EVENING DRESSES THAT LOOK STILL HALF-PINNED.
05HIS OTHER SOURCE WAS THE CALIFORNIA DESERT: DEATH VALLEY, JOAN DIDION, THE ARTIST WALTER DE MARIA AND JIM MORRISON.
06PIERRE BALMAIN LOVED ANIMAL PRINT. TRON'S RUNS TO SNAKE PATTERNS AND EEL SKIN ON JACKETS AND TROUSERS.