Queer Places:
Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa, Aldamar Parkea Parkea, 6, 20808 Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Spagna
Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre (January 21, 1895 – March 23, 1972) was a
Spanish Basque fashion designer and the founder of the Balenciaga fashion
house. He had a reputation as a couturier of uncompromising standards and was
referred to as "the master of us all" by
Christian Dior and
as "the only couturier in the truest sense of the word" by
Coco Chanel, who
continued, "The others are simply fashion designers". He continues to be
revered as the supreme deity of the European salons. On the day of his death,
in 1972, Women's Wear Daily ran the headline "The king is dead" (no one
in the fashion world had any doubt as to whom it referred).
Since 2011 the purpose built Museo Balenciaga has exhibited examples of his
work in his birth town Getaria. Many of the 1200 pieces in the collection were
supplied by his pupil
Givenchy and clients such as Grace Kelly.
Balenciaga was born in Getaria, a fishing town in the Basque province of
Gipuzkoa, on January 21, 1895.[3]
His mother was a seamstress, and as a child Balenciaga often spent time with
her as she worked.[3]
At the age of twelve, he began work as the apprentice of a tailor.[4]
When he was a teenager, the Marchioness de Casa Torres, the foremost
noblewoman in his town, became his customer and patron.[3]
She sent him to Madrid, where he was formally trained in tailoring.[3]
(Balenciaga is notable as one of the few couturiers in fashion history who
could use his own hands to design, cut, and sew the models which symbolized
the height of his artistry).
Balenciaga was homosexual,[5]
although he kept his sexuality private throughout his life.[6]
The love of his life and long time partner was Franco-Russian milliner Vladzio
Jaworowski d'Attainville, who had helped fund setting him up. When
d'Attainville died in 1948, Balenciaga was so broken he considered closing the
business.[7]
Balenciaga was successful during his early career as a designer in Spain.
He opened a boutique in San Sebastián in 1919,[8]
which expanded to include branches in Madrid and Barcelona.[3]
The Spanish royal family and the aristocracy wore his designs, but when the
Spanish Civil War forced him to close his stores, Balenciaga moved to Paris.[3][4]
He opened his Paris couture house on Avenue George V in August 1937.[3]
However, it was not until the post-war years that the full scale of the
inventiveness of this highly original designer became evident. In 1951, he
totally transformed the silhouette, broadening the shoulders and removing the
waist. In 1955, he designed the tunic dress, which later developed into the
chemise dress of 1957. In 1959, his work culminated in the Empire line, with
high-waisted dresses and coats cut like kimonos.
In 1960 he made the wedding dress for Fabiola de Mora y Aragón when she
married King Baudouin I of Belgium. The Queen later donated her wedding dress
to the Cristóbal Balenciaga Foundation.[9]
He taught fashion design classes, inspiring other designers including Oscar
de la Renta, André Courrèges, Emanuel Ungaro, Mila Schön and
Hubert de
Givenchy.[3]
His often spare, sculptural creations were considered masterworks of haute
couture in the 1950s and 1960s.
Balenciaga closed his house in 1968 at the age of 74 after working in Paris
for 30 years. He decided to retire and closed his fashion houses in Paris,
Barcelona and Madrid, one after the other.[4]
Balenciaga died on March 23, 1972 in Xàbia, Spain.
Today the Balenciaga fashion house continues under the direction of Demna
Gvasalia and under the ownership of the Kering Group.[10]
During the 1950s designers like
Christian Dior,
Pierre Balmain, and
Coco Chanel, emerged,
creating pieces very representative to their fashion houses and to their own
styles. An important protagonist for this period was Cristobal Balenciaga.
This Spanish fashion designer was known as "The King of Fashion" and was one
of the great masterminds of the period. Balenciaga was born and raised in
Spain, where he worked for the Spanish royalty, but because of the Spanish
Civil War he moved to Paris where he became this "King of Fashion".[11]
The most eye-catching designer of this period was Balenciaga because of his
structural designs, which had never before been seen in the fashion world. He
was a master of tailoring, and he was able to translate his illustrations from
paper to real life. His advanced tailoring skills gave him an advantage over
designers all over the world, making him a major target for customers.[12]
"He reshaped women's silhouette in the 1950s, so that clothes we think as
typical of that decade are mostly dilutions of his work" (Irvine, 2013).[13]
Compared to some work like the New Look from
Christian Dior,
which featured full skirts and a tiny waist,[14]
Balenciaga changed these to look like the Yoki coat, which was a one-seam
coat, or to voluminous looks. However, this look made customers travel from
all over the world for his outfits.
On 24 March 2011, San Francisco's M. H. de Young Museum celebrated the
opening of "Balenciaga and Spain", a 120-piece fashion retrospective of his
career. "You can't even measure it", said Rodarte designer Laura Mulleavy, of
Balenciaga's influence. The $2,500-a-ticket fund-raiser for the museum drew
350 guests, including Marissa Mayer, Jamie Tisch, Gwyneth Paltrow, Orlando
Bloom, Balthazar Getty, Maggie Rizer, Connie Nielsen, Maria Bello and Mia
Wasikowska.[15]
On 7 June 2011, the Balenciaga Museum was inaugurated in his hometown of
Getaria by Queen Sofía of Spain and with the presence of
Hubert de
Givenchy, honorific president of the Balenciaga Foundation.[16]
The museum has a collection of more than 1,200 pieces designed by Balenciaga,
some of them donations by disciples, like Givenchy, or clients, like Queen
Fabiola of Belgium and the heirs of Grace Kelly.[17]
His most famous clients were Mona von Bismarck, Grace Kelly,
Ava Gardner,
Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy.
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