Balenciaga. The magic of a single name permissible only for a few select fashion icons is perfectly appropriated to legendary fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga [1895-1972], whose Spanish heritage informed his creativity and originality in transforming the way women dressed starting with the opening of his Paris fashion house in 1937 until his retirement in 1968.
These years serve as the focus of “BALENCIAGA: Spanish Master” an exhibition on view at the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in New York. Showcasing seventy carefully selected items on two floors from European and American private collectors and museums, among them the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of he City of New York, The Hispanic Society of America and the Texas Collection, the exhibition is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between the House of Balenciaga in Paris and the Institute spearheaded by one of Balenciga’s protégés Oscar de La Renta, Chairman of the Institute’s Board of Directors. Working closely with Mr. de la Renta was Hamish Bowles, Vogue’s European Editor at Large who also curated the highly praised 2001 traveling exhibition “Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years “ that originated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Frances McLaughlin-Gill / Vogue; Copyright © Condé Nast.
Courtesy of Balenciaga Archives, Paris.
During his thirty-year presence in Paris Balenciaga’s exacting standards never faltered personally handling all the fittings. His fashions in the 50’s and 60s were considered masterworks marking his legacy of changing a woman’s silhouette. Several designers who worked for Balenciaga would go on to open their own couture houses – de la Renta, Ungaro, Courreges, and Givenchy – each of whom garnered an international reputation becoming designers of choice among the social elite.
Courtesy of Balenciaga Archives, Paris.
Viewing collections of courtiers is always inspiring and rich in information of fashion during a certain era. Today’s fashion designers invent, reinvent, and brand themselves, but the courtier of yesteryear regarded the making of fashion with a timeless precision that is rarely seen in our fast paced, corporate dominated, technology advanced global environment. Hamish Bowles authored the exhibition catalog (Rizzoli) and is organizing a second larger exhibition for spring 2011 at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. At Queen Sofia Institute through February 19, 2011. (212) 628-0420.
