A surge of Latine pop stars have been breaking into the fashion industry and rapidly selling out their street and sportswear collaborations with well known fashion brands. So far, we have collabs like Bad Bunny’s Adidas pieces, J Balvin’s Air Jordans, Cardi B’s upcoming Reebok collection and, more recently, Colombian singer Maluma joined French fashion luxury market to debut his eponymous collection, Maluma x Balmain.
The Parisian luxury fashion house’s creative director, Olivier Rousteing teased news about the collaboration earlier this week. This marks the first time the luxury house has partnered with a celebrity to co-design a full collection. Through photos on his Instagram, Rousteing referred to the reggaetón singer as his inspiration, captioned with supportive laudatory messages about merging their cultures and joint design process.
“Maluma, more than him being an incredible singer,” Rousteing notes, “[brings] a lot to the fashion community with his joy and his happiness and the fact that he’s always playing up his style from different kinds of houses from around the world, mixing different cultures as well… I think the collaboration with Maluma is obviously giving to Balmain and pushing the aesthetic more internationally.”
The Colombian singer returned the sentiment and expanded on his inspiration behind the collection saying via press release “I have always dreamt to design one day, and I was happy to have a friend like Olivier let me express creatively through fashion…. This collaboration represents us merging our fashion and music worlds, and breaking the rules with style, colors and mostly importantly blending our cultures together.”
The “vintage and Miami Vice vibes” Maluma points to in his caption are at the forefront of the collection’s designs with pinstripe suit sets and neon ‘80s & ‘90s retrowave-like graphics influenced by Miami sunsets, palm trees, and the city’s signature art deco architecture.
Price points range from $495 to $2,550. If you’re ready to drop some hefty coins on these vibrant luxury streetwear pieces, the limited edition collection is currently available online and can be shopped at Saks Fifth Avenue this Friday, April 16. Here are five standout pieces from the collection:
The Multicolor Print Nylon Bomber Jacket
The priciest item of the collection boasts a lavishly-detailed black, white and neon yellow art deco design with a stripe motif, chain-link and palm tree prints throughout. It has a classic bomber silhouette with two zipper pockets and solid black-knit neck, cuff and waist ribbing. The vertical stripe pattern keeps a sense of continuity in line with a few other pieces in the collection with additional print and color. It comes just in time for springtime weather and would pair especially well with any solid color bottoms and the Maluma X Balmain Black-Knit High-Top Sneakers, Black and White Striped Shorts, or Pinstripe Pants from the collection.
The Oversized Lime-Green Balmain Logo Print T-shirt
Taking a page from Maluma’s Balmain-designed 2020 Latin American Music Awards look, Maluma and Rousteing use a familiar color palette in this retro-wave logo graphic Tee. It incorporates vintage Miami aesthetics that are ripe for casual bold and fun summer wear. One can easily imagine strutting down Miami’s Ocean Drive or sitting beachside, cocktail in hand against a background setting that emulates the T-shirts coastal print. The accompanying grid-like print gives a touch of futurism converging elements of past, present and future in its design.
The Black & White Striped Cuprammonium Shorts
Cuprammonium Rayon is a material that has been dubbed “vegan silk” for its ability to mimic the refined light-weight luxurious fabric which is sure to keep you cool with a blend of casual and classy this summer. The thick, vertical black and white stripes add a fun pop of print to any outfit. Designed with an elastic drawstring waist and contrasting horizontal stripe waistband, the piece imitates swim trunks, allowing for range in how the piece can be worn—wear with a plain black T-shirt or, if feeling more daring, pair with smaller detailed prints such as the the Maluma X Balmain Multicolor Print Bomber Jacket that mirrors elements of the vertical stripe pattern.
The Double-Breasted Black & White Striped Cuprammonium Blazer
Adding debonaire edge and flair to the collection, is this double-breasted black and white pinstripe blazer constructed out of the aforementioned vegan silk-like material, Cuprammonium Rayon. It’s accented with flat pockets and silver-tone button fastenings debossed with the Balmain monogram. The blazer reprises vintage fashion classic double-breasted pinstripe suits that were popular during the 1920s and 30s prohibition era. While past stylings wouldn’t dare dress a pinstripe blazer in a casual fashion, “it’s all about breaking the rules with style.”
Black-Knit Lace-Up B-Bold High-Top Sneaker
The black and gold minimal color palette accompanying its flexible architectural silhouette lend to this sneaker’s versatility, dressed up or down for amped up-casual or subdued formal looks. According to Balmain’s website, the multi-textured chunky sneaker comes equipped with “black elastic laces on top and around the ankle, thick black platform soles, metallic gold finishes, and gold TPU panels with embossed Balmain monograms.” Luxury , streetwear, and comfort are well-balanced with this aerodynamic-like design which as the title suggests is well-suited for the bold future forward wearer. These are sure to make a confident statement on their own.