Product Details
Balenciaga

Balenciaga
By Marie-Andree Jouve

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Product Description

Christian Dior called Cristobal Balenciaga "the master of us all." The priest-like Balenciaga, whose private life remained a total mystery until the day he died, created day dresses of deceiving simplicity and evening gowns of staggering extravagance, and for them he was paid the highest prices in the couture world. His faithful clients were the great fashion plates of the postwar years: the Duchess of Windsor, Gloria Guinness, Pauline de Rothschild, and Mona Bismarck, among others.

Cristobal Balenciaga was born in 1895 in Getaria, in Spain's Basque country, and at the early age of twenty-four he created his own couture house in San Sebastian. He opened in Barcelona in 1933, in Madrid in 1935, and in 1948 on the Avenue Georges V in Paris, where he could serve a more international clientele. Cristobal Balenciaga retired in 1968 and died in reclusion in his native Spain in 1972.

The informative text and legendary photography in this volume beautifully document this master's immeasurably influential life and work.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1462843 in Books
  • Published on: 1997-09-15
  • Released on: 1997-09-15
  • Original language: English
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 80 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Basque-born Cristobal Balenciaga, one of the leading couturiers of this century, found his metier in dress design early, spurred by his mother's work as a dressmaking teacher. Encouraged further by a noblewoman's interest in his talents, Balenciaga, aged 24, opened his first couture house in 1919. Journalist Demornex and Balenciaga archivist Jouve trace the development of his long career, which endured until the master's retirement in 1971, a year before his death. Balenciaga's famous draping technique, inspired by the paintings of Zurbaran, led to the creation of fantastic silhouettes (Colette, Marlene Dietrich and the Duchess of Windsor were among his clients), exemplified in evening dresses with enormous, jutting shoulders or full skirts bunched at calf level. Another trademark was lavishly ornamented fabric, such as a black muslin crisscrossed with ruched black lace. An informative text and 600 illustrations--200 in color, 190 in duotone--remind us of Balenciaga's brilliance and its sources in life and art.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.