His clothing has been worn by acclaimed style icons Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy. Recognized as the "king of fashion", Balenciaga was one of the few designers who not only created designs, but also sewed and cut himself, creating not just a dress, but a work of art.
Biography and career
Cristobal Balenciaga was born in Getaria, a fishing town in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa on January 21, 1895. His mother, after the death of the children's father, was forced to support the family alone, working as a seamstress. Little Cristobal loved to spend time watching her work.
When he was a teenager, a wealthy family of the Marquis de Casa Torra settled on the coast of the town. Cristobal visited their villa, playing with the servants' children. The boy gave the Marquise several style advice, and once created a copy of one of her Drecoll suits. From that time on, the Marquis, confident in the brilliant future of the talented boy, took custody of him. She sent him to be educated in Madrid, where he learned the correct design of clothing. In 1909, again with her help, he went to Paris, where he studied fashion on the examples of the fashion houses Doucet, Worth, Drecoll.
Returning to Spain, Balenciaga opened his first boutique in San Sebastian in 1919, funded by his patroness. His career in Spain was highly successful, with members of the royal family and other aristocrats among his clients. Later he opened stores in Madrid and Barcelona. However, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he moved to France, where in August 1937 he opened the Maison de Couture boutique at Avenue George V.
In 1938, he developed the cut of dresses, which, according to Harper's Bazarr, sat on the figure, “like a wet glove on a hand,” and the style of knitted draped dresses that became a signature style in the 40s. He also gave up skirts, which were created with hoops, opting for crinoline and petticoats.
In 1945, he created a collection of dresses with wide, straight shoulders and a narrow waist.
In 1947, his first perfume line, Le Dix, was launched, the name of which reflected the number of the house in which the Balenciaga boutique was located.
However, its full potential was revealed after the war. In 1951, he made a fashion revolution by changing the traditional silhouette of a woman's dress, widening the shoulder line and removing the waist line. In 1955, he designed the tunic dress, and in 1957, the revolutionary Empire line was published, featuring high-waisted dresses and kimono-style coats. In those same years, he also developed a style of dress with high collars, a sack dress and dress with three-quarter sleeves - so that women could adorn their wrists with bracelets.
In 1960, Balenciaga created a wedding dress for Princess Fabiola de Mora Aragon, in which she married King Baudouin of Belgium. Later, the Queen donated this dress to the foundation named after him.
Balenciaga also acted as a teacher, giving design design lessons. He became the inspiration for fashion designers such as Oscar de la Renta, André Courrej, Emanuel Ungaro, Mila Sean and Hubert de Givenchy.
In 1958 Balenciaga was awarded the Legion of Honor.
Balenciaga closed his fashion house in 1968 after 30 years in Paris. One by one, the departments in Paris, Barcelona and Madrid were closed, and the fashion designer himself announced his desire to go on vacation. He made this decision after the fashion market was taken over by the machined dress industry. The great couturier did not want to give his works, each of which had its own unique style, to impersonal machines. His last public appearance was at Coco Chanel's funeral.
Cristobal Balenciaga died on March 23, 1972, in Javea, Spain.
Work style and personal life
In the 50s, many leading fashion designers such as Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, Pierre Balmain created similar clothing styles. Balenciaga was one of the few who had a different point of view on fashion. He worked with heavy materials, giving his dresses almost architectural lines. When Christian Dior created the new bow style - with a thin waist and a fluffy skirt, Balenciaga moved in the completely opposite direction, offering his clients straight dresses of the first cut, as well as closed-front dresses with a low-cut back. Thanks to his unique style of work, buyers from all over the world came to see him for fitting.
Balenciaga has always been attentive to the silhouette of the dress he creates, approaching each of his creations from a creative perspective. His fashion house dressed the most elegant women of the day, be they royalty or movie queens.
Balenciaga kept his personal life secret all his life, but it is known that his life partner was a millionaire of Franco-Russian origin Vladzio Javorovski d'Atenweil, who also repeatedly financially supported the couturier.
Memory in the history of fashion
On March 24, 2011, the Michael de Young Museum in San Francisco opened Balenciaga and Spain, a 120-piece retrospective of his work. The ticket price of $ 250,000 did not scare off eminent guests, including Marissa Mayer, Gwyneth Paltrow, Orlando Bloom, Balthazar Getty, Maggie Reiser, Connie Nielsen, Maria Bello and Mia Wasikowska. In total, 350 guests attended the opening of the exposition.
On June 7, 2011, in the hometown of the couturier Getaria of the Kings of Spain, Sofia, a museum named after him, Balenciaga Museum, was opened. The opening took place in the presence of Hubert de Givenchy, Honorary President of the Balenciaga Foundation. The museum contains over 1,200 copies of Balenciaga's work, some of which were donated by his former clients.
