By Emma Krasov, photography by Yuri Krasov
A retrospective of the iconic fashion designer of the 20th century, Cristobal Balenciaga, is now on view at the de Young, organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
At the opening, Diane B. Wilsey, John E. Buchanan, Jr., and Hamish Bowles, European editor at large with Vogue, spoke on the clear and persistent connection of Balenciaga’s fashions with the images of his native Spain. These images are present in all his creations, which became synonymous with luxury and good taste in the history of fashion.
Born in 1895, Balenciaga left Spain in 1937, at the beginning of the Civil War, and spent most of his life in Paris, where among his close friends there were Coco Chanel and Givenchy. Two decades of his early career in Spain defined the prevailing motifs of his oeuvre.
In the de Young retrospective, spanning from 1937 to 1968, these motifs are divided into several themed displays: Spanish Art, Royal Court, Religious Life, Dance, The Bullfight, and Regional Dress. Balenciaga’s ideas in clothing were inspired by the art of Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso; heavy embroidered fabrics and lace of royal garments; capes and hoods of monks; raffled skirts of flamenco dancers, beaded bolero jackets of matadors, and peasant blouses of the Basks.
The richest and most prominent women of the world were happy to wear his designs, among them San Franciscan matrons, Mrs. C. H. Russell, Eleanor Christensen de Guigne, and Elise S. Haas.
Balenciaga was adored by the fashion magazines, although he tried to avoid their correspondents at all cost; he made tons of money by working long hours, in seclusion, incessantly perfecting his every model; he was admired by his colleagues as a “monk of the couture,” devoted to his art, and not interested in anything else.
Christian Dior revered Balenciaga’s “creative genius” and called him “the master of us all,” while Balenciaga did not consider Dior a very good designer, seeing his creations as too artificial.
Balenciaga’s own models always started with the fabric, playing on its natural qualities, were easy to wear, and were fitted in a way so the wearer would be able to move freely in an elaborate-looking garment.
He preferred to dress women of a certain age, emphasizing their elegance and artfully concealing any shortcomings. He said that his creations didn’t require a woman to be young and beautiful, but they required integrity and a good posture.
He liked to quote Salvador Dali, who said that “A distinguished lady always has a disagreeable air.” Balenciaga created his first model at the age of six, when he cut a coat for his cat. The cat wouldn’t follow a command to stand straight, and the future master got his first lesson on how to fit clothes so they wouldn’t prevent the movements of the body.
The house of Balenciaga in Paris worked under his motto “perfect or nothing at all.” Consequently, the atmosphere at his studio was “extremely severe.” The master had high demands for himself and for all his workers, and often demonstrated his short temper at the slightest slip on anyone’s part.
Among his devoted employees was a Russian immigrant, Madame Vera, whose job was to vet visitors to the salon and protect the master against uninvited intrusions. Usually, a client who came for a fitting was not allowed to bring along a spectator friend – they would be told that Balenciaga doesn’t cater to curious women.
Visiting Balenciaga was like getting an audience with the pope. In the 1960s, the time of student rebellions, Balenciaga lost interest in creating fashion, finding the new age to be too youthful and vulgar.
He complained about his dog’s life “c’est la vie d’un chien” as a hard-working designer losing his goal of extreme elegance in fashion, and in 1968 he closed his shop. Balenciaga and Spain runs through July 4 at the de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco; 415-750-3600;
http://www.famsf.org/
A retrospective of the iconic fashion designer of the 20th century, Cristobal Balenciaga, is now on view at the de Young, organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
At the opening, Diane B. Wilsey, John E. Buchanan, Jr., and Hamish Bowles, European editor at large with Vogue, spoke on the clear and persistent connection of Balenciaga’s fashions with the images of his native Spain. These images are present in all his creations, which became synonymous with luxury and good taste in the history of fashion.
Born in 1895, Balenciaga left Spain in 1937, at the beginning of the Civil War, and spent most of his life in Paris, where among his close friends there were Coco Chanel and Givenchy. Two decades of his early career in Spain defined the prevailing motifs of his oeuvre.
In the de Young retrospective, spanning from 1937 to 1968, these motifs are divided into several themed displays: Spanish Art, Royal Court, Religious Life, Dance, The Bullfight, and Regional Dress. Balenciaga’s ideas in clothing were inspired by the art of Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso; heavy embroidered fabrics and lace of royal garments; capes and hoods of monks; raffled skirts of flamenco dancers, beaded bolero jackets of matadors, and peasant blouses of the Basks.
The richest and most prominent women of the world were happy to wear his designs, among them San Franciscan matrons, Mrs. C. H. Russell, Eleanor Christensen de Guigne, and Elise S. Haas.
Balenciaga was adored by the fashion magazines, although he tried to avoid their correspondents at all cost; he made tons of money by working long hours, in seclusion, incessantly perfecting his every model; he was admired by his colleagues as a “monk of the couture,” devoted to his art, and not interested in anything else. 
Christian Dior revered Balenciaga’s “creative genius” and called him “the master of us all,” while Balenciaga did not consider Dior a very good designer, seeing his creations as too artificial.
Balenciaga’s own models always started with the fabric, playing on its natural qualities, were easy to wear, and were fitted in a way so the wearer would be able to move freely in an elaborate-looking garment.
He preferred to dress women of a certain age, emphasizing their elegance and artfully concealing any shortcomings. He said that his creations didn’t require a woman to be young and beautiful, but they required integrity and a good posture.
He liked to quote Salvador Dali, who said that “A distinguished lady always has a disagreeable air.” Balenciaga created his first model at the age of six, when he cut a coat for his cat. The cat wouldn’t follow a command to stand straight, and the future master got his first lesson on how to fit clothes so they wouldn’t prevent the movements of the body.
The house of Balenciaga in Paris worked under his motto “perfect or nothing at all.” Consequently, the atmosphere at his studio was “extremely severe.” The master had high demands for himself and for all his workers, and often demonstrated his short temper at the slightest slip on anyone’s part.
Among his devoted employees was a Russian immigrant, Madame Vera, whose job was to vet visitors to the salon and protect the master against uninvited intrusions. Usually, a client who came for a fitting was not allowed to bring along a spectator friend – they would be told that Balenciaga doesn’t cater to curious women.
Visiting Balenciaga was like getting an audience with the pope. In the 1960s, the time of student rebellions, Balenciaga lost interest in creating fashion, finding the new age to be too youthful and vulgar.
He complained about his dog’s life “c’est la vie d’un chien” as a hard-working designer losing his goal of extreme elegance in fashion, and in 1968 he closed his shop. Balenciaga and Spain runs through July 4 at the de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco; 415-750-3600; http://www.famsf.org/
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