Meet Oscar's Heir: Laurent Mercier Debuts at Balmain

PARIS, Mar 16, 2002/ --- A major sense of change dominated the proceedings at the presentation of Balmain’s fall-winter 2002/2003 collection, as Laurent Mercier made his debut at the venerable house and rumors circulated that the label’s couturier Oscar de Renta will soon call it a day.

Asked about the reports, Balmain president Alain Hivelin denied that de la Renta was about to leave, but in the next sentence practically anointed Mercier as Oscar’s successor.

"Oscar has a contract until the spring-summer 2003 collection, and I have no reason to believe he’s not going to fulfill that. However, I am of the opinion that Laurent would make a great couturier, especially after what he produced today," Hivelin told reporters.

Unfortunately Mercier, a talented and witty designer whose own signature collection has won critical acclaim, didn’t have the luckiest of debuts --at least not logistically.

A last-minute move to create more space at the head of the runway for the American Vogue editors forced a couple of photographers to move, provoking a chain reaction that led nearly every photographer and cameraman to storm out of the Salle Soufflot in the Louvre.

The designer opened with skirts in quirky prints and large lettering, with words like ‘bougie,’ French for ‘candle,’ several versions of which were featured.

His silhouette was the familiar French one of curvy jackets, slim skirts and pricey stoles, mostly in fox.

Mercier’s Balmain girl is a classy act that prefers crisp gray pinstripe suits worn with anthracite fox mufflers and boots made of patent leather or court shoes with suede uppers.

The collection also had exotic influences, with padded jackets tied on the shoulder and belts dangling with sharks’ teeth.

But while the clothes had real polish, there was no sense of a paradigm.

Mercier’s own line can be pretty adventurous -- he should inject some of that fearlessness into his next Balmain season.

Hivelin also revealed that he plans to blend Balmain’s top line, Ivoire, which is designed by Oscar but not shown on the runway, into the signature Balmain collection.

Having two separate collections had caused too much confusion, he explained. He also plans to widen the price range of the new unified collection, with items ranging from $250 to $4,000, where previously prices were $700 to $1,500.

Asked about the possibility of designing haute couture, Laurent Mercier replied, "I’d love to do couture. What I do is already a sort of ready-to-wear couture, so I’m already not so far away."