Credit: Nuestro Stories
Balenciaga is a name that conjures up images of sophisticated high fashion and whose influence can be seen in many Latino fashion designers today.
Cristóbal Balenciaga – the elegant Spaniard who founded the fashion house – is considered one of the most hands-on designers of his time and a gifted tailor. He created fluid silhouettes and sculpted coats, transformed waistlines, and never betrayed craftsmanship.
For Balenciaga, the secret of elegance was “elimination.”
Known as ‘The Master’ of haute couture, Balenciaga was a fashion innovator who dramatically altered women’s silhouettes in the mid-twentieth century by creating fluid and graceful garments. His designs were streamlined and linear, dramatically different from the popular, curvaceous hourglass shape promoted by French designer Christian Dior’s “New Look.” Balenciaga’s fluid lines gave him the space to alter the way clothing draped a woman’s body.
His work still shapes many Latino fashion designers today. Dominican fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, who was an apprentice at Balenciaga’s atelier, always cited the Hispanic couturier as one of his biggest influences. “I still work today in the manner that I saw Balenciaga work,” he once said.
And none other than Dior said of Balenciaga: “Haute couture is like an orchestra whose conductor is Balenciaga. We, other couturiers, are the musicians and we follow the direction he gives.”
The origins of Balenciaga
Born in Guetaria, a small fishing town in the Basque region of Spain in 1895, a young Balenciaga spent hours watching his mother work as a seamstress.
When he was a teenager, Marquesa de Casa Torres, a prominent woman in his town, became his patron and client. She sent him to Madrid to be trained formally in tailoring. La Marquesa also proudly wore his designs.
Balenciaga established his first fashion house in the resort town of San Sebastian in 1917 and named it Eisa – a short version of his mother’s maiden name. He also opened fashion houses in Barcelona and Madrid, before moving to Paris in 1937. (By the way, few people saw the master; he almost never appeared in his fashion salons.)
His Hispanic heritage influenced many of his iconic designs – his ‘Infanta’ dresses from the late 1930s reminded one of a 17th-century Spanish artist Diego Velázquez’s painting. Flamenco dresses, matador outfits, and black lace – like your Abuela’s mantilla. (A little-known fact – Balenciaga also created the baby doll dress in 1957.)
Read more: Carolina Herrera is a Latina Fashion Pioneer
From fashion to anti-fashion
Today, the Balenciaga name stands for something very different – anti-fashion. Fashion fans are unsure of Balenciaga’s latest accessory, a bag that looks like a packet of Lays crisps. Their new limited edition ‘Paris Sneaker’ – tagline ‘meant to be worn for a lifetime’ didn’t strike a chord with their target audience.
A once iconic fashion house that influenced Hispanic and Latino designers has now become the butt of jokes on the internet, but this can never topple the iconic Balenciaga.
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