Cristóbal Balenciaga: The Experience of Luxury

Cristóbal Balenciaga: A master of haute couture

Cristóbal Balenciaga revolutionized the concept of dressing and the female silhouette. For him, perfection was an obligation and his extraordinary technical skils facilitated the task. As a result of his innovative personality, he sought greater simplicity and purity of forms. He was hailed by fashion designer Coco Chanel as "the only true couturier amongst us, able to design, cut, assemble and sew a dress entirely by himself."

Cristóbal Balenciaga deserves the title of “The Master” due to the perfection of his creations and ability to be ahead of his time by creating a new technical and visual language for the female silhouette. His work has stood the test of time is even more relevant today.

Luxury means different things for different people: uniqueness, exclusiveness, an status statement...in the Haut Couture world of Maison Balenciaga it meant also to access a source of elegance, self confidence, and figure enhancement without relinquishing comfort or practicality, all of it worked out through a perfect fabric choice, cut and fit.

Maison Balenciaga courted a reputation for "Le plus cher et clientèle le plus riches", the most expensive place with the wealthiest clients.

The Balenciagas

The Balenciagas, - as the firms’ most loyal clients were named by some journalists -, felt comfortable and reassure in their clothes, ready to success in their social lives. Diana Vreeland, fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar said; “In a Balenciaga, you were the only woman in the room – no other woman existed“.

Distinguished personalities of the 20th century such as Mona Von Bismarck, Bunny Mellon, Barbara Hutton, Grace Kelly, Madame Jack Bousquet or Madeline Dittenfofer wore Balenciaga's creations.

Mona Von Bismarck

When Cristóbal Balenciaga closed his atelier in 1968, Diana Vreeland quipped that Mona dis not leave her bedroom in the villa at Capri for three days.

Rachel L. Mellon

“For more than ten years Balenciaga had made almost everything I wore. He understood my need was a simple working fashion in the country as well as ball gowns, evenings coats and extraordinary hats”. Bunny Mellon.

Queen Fabiola

Balenciaga reported in an interview with Paris Match in 1968 how at the age 12 he met the Marchioness of Casa-Torres, who allowed him to make a model and became his first client. In 1960 he would wear his granddaughter, Fabiola from Belgium, at his wedding.

Maison Balenciaga

The couture maison was located in Paris and opened in 1937 at 10 Avenue George V.

The salons

The salons were decorated in a refined polychromatic style: white walls, luxurious golden furniture, floors covered with grey carpets. It was conceived to avoid interferences with the colours and prints of the dresses that were presented on it.

Interior

The picture shows a sari-dress in pink cloqué with metallic threads, finished off with golden assementerie, made in Paris in 1961. The turned and gold wood chair with bulrush seat belongs to the salons and fitters of the EISA firm in Madrid.

Interior

Clients would sit on this chair while models wearing Balenciaga's newest designs would walk past. The cape coat in moss green gazar is finished off with large frill.

Fashion presentations

Fashion shows for clients used to start following the official presentation of the collection and were run at daily bases during two months. The mannequins, full time workers at the firm, were permanently at the disposal of the customers to wear, in silence, the models chosen for them.

Key figures at the maison

The saleswomen, key figures of the maison, were perfectly familiar with the social circles and lifestyle of their customers. Elegant and educated, they were uniformed with the firm's models in discreet tones. They accompanied the customers throughout the entire process with exquisite carte.

The relationship between the customer and the assistant became so close that many customers left in their hand the preselection of models, which were sent as drafts, along the possible samples of fabric.

The fittings

The fitting was a key step in this process. Customers were led by their personal vendeuse to the changing room, where a fitting assistant fitted the toiles to the lady's size. The customer knew that, from that moment on, she would have a series of appointments for the weekly fittings, always adhering to an unspoken rule: no discussions over the features of the model or the price.

"The first fitting at Balenciaga is worth the third at any other house". Marlene Dietrich.

The scent of Balenciaga

Le Dix, created in 1946-1947, was the first perfume launched by the house of Balenciaga. In 1948, the house created its second perfume, La fuite des heures; in 1955 the third perfume was released, Quadrille.

Stockings

Balenciaga Paris silk stockings in assorted colours.

Department stores

Buyers from department stores such as Harrods, Bloomingdales or Saks went to the presentation of the collection seeking models that were easily identifiable with the designer.

They pursue Balenciaga models already completed in order to be able to copy them a large number of times with the label "inspired by Balenciaga" or "adapted from an original Balenciaga".

In the picture, Balenciaga for Dan Millstein.

The allure of Balenciaga

The desire for a Balenciaga is mentioned in Harper's Bazaar, 1964: "Every woman virtually uses one form of his creations, either directly or indirectly", alluding to the existence of both legal and illegal copies.