Dubbed the ‘couturiers’ couturier’, Cristobal Balenciaga was one of the most highly respected haute couture designers of all time. A prolific designer, whose career spanned a period of over 35 years, he is credited with creating every major fashion silhouette during that time. His big and tall mens clothing fashions appeared regularly on the front pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar magazines.
Having trained as a tailor in San Sebastian, Spain, Balenciaga was able to apply his skill in creating simple, elegant and sophisticated forms of big mens clothing. His greatest talent was an ability to mould garments into sculptural shapes. He also elaborately beaded or embroidered the surface of his fabrics, so that the sumptuous fabrics were highlighted by magnificent surface textures, an art that welcomed revival following the depression years.
Balenciaga opened his Paris salon on Avenue George V in August, 1937, just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. It is, perhaps, for this reason that he is better known for his late 1940s and 1950s work. His clientele included the rich and famous, as well as members of royalty. Among them were Pauline de Rothschild, Mona von Bismarck and Jackie Kennedy. His favourite models were ‘Colette’ and ‘Bettina, middle-aged brunettes whose figures and coloring were similar to those of his best clients. Balenciaga’s astute business acumen and his genius for exquisite design ensured a very successful couturier career.
He chose fabrics that were naturally stiff, such as taffeta, velvet and layers of organdie, as they held their shape and complemented the defined forms of his garments, including his famous black ‘Pumpkin or ‘Balloon dress of 1950, his white organdie ‘Flamenco’ dress and his black and white ‘Fishtail’ dress, both designed in 1951 – and later his range of big and tall shirts.
While the dominant color for evening wear in the 1950s was black, daytime colors included brownish-red, yellow ochre, turquoise blue and mauve – the colors of his native homeland, Spain. It is significant that they also became the signature colors of the 1950s fashion period, and indicative of the influence that he had over fashion at that time.
Balenciaga’s clothing often referenced both historical and non-European cultural garments, drawing upon past fashion styles. Inspirations included the sixteenth-century farthingale skirts seen in paintings by the Spanish master Diego Velasquez and eighteenth-century flowing coats depicted by the French rococo painter Jean-Antoine
Watteau.
In the early 1950s, Balenciaga’s work reflected an oriental influence with mounted collars and three-quarter ‘kimono’ sleeves. He transformed the silhouette by broadening the shoulders and letting out the seams, thereby removing the waist, making this ‘semi-fit’ styling very fashionable. These loose, unfitted garments became, by 1957, the prototype for the kite-shaped ‘sack’ dresses made famous by his disciple, Hubert de Givenchy.
Expertly constructed, lavish and profoundly romantic, Balenciaga’s clothing characterizes the best of haute couture. His work is now part of the collection of every major art museum in the world and his fashion house, following his retirement in 1968, became part of the Gucci group with Nicolas Ghesquiere appointed as head designer.