Cristóbal Balenciaga, man who revolutionised women’s silhouettes

Balenciaga, Cristóbal Balenciaga, designer who moved from Spain to Paris to escape the war made a fashion revolution. In 1936, he was forced to leave Spain because of the Spanish civil war. He moved to Paris, and opened a new store on Avenue George V in August 1937.

At the age of 11, he showed an interest in sewing, helping his mother after the death of his father. His mother was working as a seamstress for some of Spain’s most elegant women. Balenciaga went on to receive professional training by joining a tailoring firm aged 12. His stuck-out hips, curved-in trunk and 1950s model look, had the worst reputation, they were known as the “monsters”. Right from the start, he approaches design differently than most designers at the time, that is, broad shoulders and box shapes. Adding volume around waist, it created the typical egg coat, peacock tail dress and the semi-fitted suit. Baby doll dress is his great discovery, remodelling women’s figure, from Twiggy to Courtney.

ph: GETTY IMAGES

Before moving to Paris, Balenciaga opened fashion houses in Barcelona and Madrid. Fashion house on Avenue Georges V quickly became the city’s most expensive and exclusive couturier. He was adept at every stage of the making process, from cutting to pattern drafting and finishing garment, because of his early training. His designs began with fabrics rather than a sketch.

ph: Balenciaga in Paris, France, photography by Henri Cartier-Bresson. \ copyright: Henri Cartier-Bresson\Magnum Photos

Balenciaga‘s iconic designs

Flamenco dresses, black lace, seen in the traditional mantilla shawls worn by women at special ceremonies and during Spanish Holy Week, and matador outfits. Bolero jacket, a short jacket not reaching the waist, with long sleeves and lace, is one of his signature designs. The so-called ‘sack dress‘, shocked the fashion world with Balenciaga‘s introduction, in 1957, a straight up and down shift dress which completely eliminated the waist. Baby doll dress, from the late 1950s, continued abstracting the body, skimming the waist. This abstraction reached a pinnacle in Balenciaga’s designs of the late 60s, as in the dramatic four-pointed ‘envelope dress’, shown the year before he closed the house.

Left: Evening dress and Cape, photo by Irving Penn for Vogue, 1950, Condé Nast. Right: Sack dress, 1957, Paris, Museum no. T.90-1973. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Some of the most glamorous women of the 1950s and 60s including Hollywood stars Ava Gardener, Gloria Guinness, Mona von Bismarck, wore Balenciaga’s designs, women who commissioned everything from ball-gowns to gardening shorts. His clients were extremely loyal. In 1968, when his fashion house closed, shocked his clientele. His death four years later, marked the end of an era. In 1986, Balenciaga label re-launched under a series of Creative Directors.