Balmain x H&M: the high-street's answer to super-glam partywear

Olivier Rousteing’s forthcoming collection for high street brand H&M is a riot of beads, gold and (fairly) affordable partywear

The aesthetic of the Parisian house of Balmain embraces the pearl-encrusted pomp of the courts of Henry VIII, the lethal shark-fin shoulders of a Carrington cocktail party in Dynasty, and the megawatt sex appeal of the Kardashians. This is fashion at its most brazen.

Which goes some way to explaining how Balmain has the front to put a £400 price tag on an H&M dress. When the high street diffusion Balmain x H&M collection goes on sale on 5 November – the final push of a campaign masterminded by designer Olivier Rousteing and slugged out on the internet via the social media firepower of his photogenic Balmain army of supermodels – the collection will include a dress embroidered from neck to hem in three lengths of cylindrical black and white bugle beads and thousands of tiny gold and diamante gems, arranged in an intricate and figure-flattering pattern, which will sell for £399.99.