The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” William Faulkner
“THE KING IS DEAD” stated the starkly, simple headline on March 23, 1972. It did not appear in the popular press nor refer to the death of Elvis Presley, rather, it announced the shocking and unexpected death of renowned couturier Cristobal Balenciaga in Women’s Wear Daily. So venerated was Balenciaga, his contemporary, Christian Dior, called him “the master of us all.”
Born in 1895 in the small Spanish coastal town of Getaria, Cristobal Balenciaga learned fabrics and sewing from his mother when she was forced to support the family after her husband’s death. His innate talent was obvious and he met with local success. He opened his first shop in 1917 in San Sebastián, where the Spanish royal family and other aristocrats vacationed. They loved his beautifully crafted gowns and shapes; shops in Madrid and Barcelona followed. The Spanish civil war forced him to move to Paris in 1937, where he opened on the Avenue Georges V to immediate success.
From the beginning Balenciaga was different. He astounded other couturiers by working without preliminary sketches and going directly to cutting the fabric. Fabric was everything for Balenciaga. It dictated his revolutionary shapes and silhouettes, which were in direct opposition to Dior’s famous New Look. Where Dior created a fitted bodice, cinched waist and full, flouncy skirt, accentuating the female shape, Balenciaga eliminated the waist, creating a columnar, undefined shape. Though a shock to the status quo, this silhouette was in synch with an emerging female demand for more comfort and freedom of movement after the structured war years.
He refined his silhouettes continuously and created a revolution in women’s wear. His shapes and fabrics (some specially created) dominated the couture world in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He included dramatic references to his Spanish origins with exquisite black lace trimming, embroidery and the introduction of the Bolero jacket. He created the Balloon jacket, the trapezoidal Baby Doll dress, the Cocoon coat and Balloon skirt, as well as the no-waist Sack dress and the Tulip dress. As radical as these shapes were then, they are the staple silhouettes for many women today.
Balenciaga was personally as controversial as his designs. In 1956 he resigned from the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne and, in an attempt to protect his creations from theft, refused to reveal his designs to the press until the retail delivery day. He was private and secretive by nature so it was a complete surprise to both the public and his employees when he suddenly announced the closing of his atelier in 1968. Another new and revolutionary young designer had emerged to create a new paradigm in dress and business — Yves Saint Laurent. Not only did the young YSL upend the existing code of dress identifying social hierarchies, he launched the first ready-to-wear store, “Saint Laurent, rive gauche.” This democratized dress and challenged the couturier business model (and to a great degree began its demise). Like Balenciaga, who had created controversy in his time, Saint Laurent experienced criticism and resistance by the established system. Balenciaga was one of only a few who gracefully refrained from carping about the upstart designer displacing the old order. He understood he could not adapt and compete in the emerging new environment. He would shock one last time by suddenly dying of a heart attack just four years later.
Balenciaga’s legacy lives on today in the rich variety of innovative, freeing shapes he created. His forward looking vision is once again seen in the designs of Nicolas Ghesquière and the unorthodox Demna Gvasalia. The brand is again making bold and surprising statements that offer individual expression of Purely Personal style.
For a deeper dive into the history and development of couture in Paris see the following blogs:
