Though it was in France where his fame reached fever pitch, it was in Spain where his story started. But, as of later this month, it will be London where Cristóbal Balenciaga’s legacy will be honoured in a blockbuster exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
When you Google ‘Balenciaga’ a floodgate of Ikea content opens. But, this wasn’t always the case. Before the recent controversy over the French fashion house recreating the Scandinavian homeware store’s FRAKTA plastic carry bag with a £1365, it was the great, storied legacy of the Cristóbal Balenciaga that scored the SEO top points.
The Basque-born couturier is to thank for some of the 20th Century’s most dramatic leaps in fashion. As Christian Dior once said, ‘Haute Couture is like an orchestra whose conductor is Balenciaga. We, other couturiers, are the musicians and we follow the direction he gives.’ He, like Yves Saint Laurent and Dior, successfully reimagined the fashionable silhouette. His work played with volume, structure and draping. He was a master at cutting fluid, graceful shapes in shocking colours.
Opening this Saturday, the exhibition will house over 100 pieces from ‘the master’ of couture, his protégées and contemporary designers honouring his legacy. To get you in the mood, let's take a walk through Balenciaga’s salon and relive some of his greatest feats.
Abridged Draping
In 1950, Irving Penn photographed his model wife, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, in an excellent example of Balenciaga's genius draping skills. Lisa is known as the first supermodel and one of Balenciaga’s so-called snooty mannequins which were nicknamed ‘monsters’ due to their haughty attitude.
Simple Yet Sculptural
A model demonstrated Balenciaga’s balletic use of volume and colour in 1954. See how it hangs, suspended from the shoulders away from the body? The designer was known for radically moving away from form-fitting silhouettes and embracing fullness.
Flamenco Reimagined
Cristóbal drew on his Basque routes in 1961 when he reimagined eveningwear with a Spanish flamenco twist and abbreviated flounces.
The ‘Envelope’ Dress
Alberta Tiburzi wore the so-called ‘envelope’ dress in 1967. Though the dress was famous for its profound, anti-gravity tailoring Balenciaga reportedly only sold two of the gowns. And, one was eventually returned as the wearer complained they couldn’t use the bathroom in it.
For The Working Woman
Alongside creating fantastical, innovative dresses that used substantial amounts of fabric, the designer created practical air stewardess uniforms in 1969 for Air France.
Extraordinary Volumes
Designer Nicolas Ghesquiere continued Cristóbal’s legacy in 2006 by rigorously reworking the founder’s seminal baby doll dress as 3-D outerwear that was repelled the body.
Contemporary Couture
Taking on the gauntlet, Demna Gvasalia used Balenciaga’s blueprint for shape and volume to reconceive the skirt suit with couture proportions in 2016.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.