30 fashion designers you should know... #04

CHRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA

"Haute Couture is an orchechstra, for which only Balenciaga is the conductor. The rest of us are musicians, following the directions that he gives us" (Christian Dior). Balenciaga had been born 1895 in a Spanish fishing village, where his mother taught him to sew. He began an apprenticeship in couture in Madrid, acquired the Spanish royal family as clients and at just twenty-four years of age opened his first fashion house. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, the designer moved his business to the fashion metropolis of Paris, from where he took international high society by storm. His secret: the finest couture with an eye for perfect proportions. The more minimal his designs became, the more groundbreaking they were. It was him, who created the balloon skirt, the O-shaped coat and the baby doll dress. When Paris was taken over by mass-produced fashion, Balenciaga, who always insisted in handcrafted work, closed his studio in 1968 and went back to Spain, where he died four years later.

Christóbal Balenciaga