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While the New Look draws women in their arms, a young designer from Spain comes to Paris and, experimenting with volume and proportions, makes an innovative contribution to fashion development.
Balenciaga was born in 1895 in the Basque Country near the French border. As a child, he sewed with great zeal. Each summer in his hometown, one aristocratic family from Madrid rented a villa. Cristobal made friends with the children and once asked their mother, the Marquise de Casa Torres, to borrow one of her beautiful dresses, which he especially admired to sew like that. The Marquise agreed, and the result so impressed her that she helped young Cristobal become a fashion designer and open her own stores in Madrid, Barcelona and San Sebastian. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Balenciaga had to close stores and move to Paris, where he continued his career.
Looking at his models to evaluate the era, you can make a mistake for ten years.Indeed, instead of the silhouette of an hourglass with a tightly drawn waist, which was emphasized by most fashion designers of the 50s, this line was not clearly defined in his collections. Balenciaga offered the world something completely different. His inventions are loose balloon dresses and shirt dresses. It was he who invented the sleeves three quarters, which attract attention to the bending of female hands. But the main idea was to create a volume between the tissue and the body, so you can optically lengthen the neck and legs. The paradox is that the spherical or baggy shapes should seem awkward, but Balenciaga used the contrast between the cut and the figure differently. He "enveloped" the woman in volume, while making her slim, graceful and elegant. Many of its designs do not go out of fashion after decades. And if New Look allows you to feel the spirit of the last century, then the bold ideas of Balenciaga take us to the modern era. The strength of his creations was a visionary look at fashion, for which the couturier was praised and recognized by his colleagues.
To characterize the importance of Cristobal Balenciaga in the fashion world, the phrase of his long-time client will help: “A woman does not have to be perfect or even beautiful to wear clothes from Balenciaga. His outfits make her beautiful.”
In1967, the designer retired due to a reluctance to put up with the mass production of clothes, thereby forcing one of his most devoted clients, Mona von Bismarck, to shed tears and not get out of bed for three days.
In the photo you will see: Linen costume in the color of red poppy from Balenciaga, 1952.
Cristobal Balenciaga in Paris, 1937.
Audrey Hepburn as a young supermodel in the movie "Funny Face", 1957.
Black Velvet Jacket, 1953.
Mikimoto pearl earrings with pearls.
Hat "Sabrina" from beige felt.
Jacket "Rose" from the magazine "Burda. Vintage" 2014: "A simple and elegant jacket with a round neck has the desired volume due to the deep one-sided folds in the armholes of the back."
Jacket "Rose" from the magazine Burda Moden 9/1958: "In 1957, this jacket became part of the image of the brilliant Audrey Hepburn in the film" Funny face ", nominated for an Academy Award for the best costumes."
As well as models from the BALENCIAGA collections
PHOTO: CONDE NAST ARCHIVE / CORBIS (2); DDP (2); BALENCIAGA (1); ADRIANO BRUZAFERRY (1).
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