None other than Christian Dior called him the “master of us all”. Cristóbal Balenciaga was already a fashion icon during his lifetime. 50 years after his death, the brand he founded is just as “in” on stages and red carpets as it is on some German schoolyards.
Top celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Dua Lipa, Kanye
West and Elliot Page wear “it,” and even The Simpsons have fallen for its charm. The legendary fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga died 50 years ago on March 23, 1972 – but the brand founded by the Spaniard over a century ago is hip again today like hardly any other. The company was still in danger of slipping into insignificance in the mid-1990s. In the meantime, however, the brand, which has belonged to the French luxury group Kering since 2001, has even replaced Gucci as the most coveted, “hottest” label on the planet, according to the latest surveys by the influential British fashion portal Lyst.
How everything began
The boom has a few reasons ranging from Kardashian to Ukraine and anti-war statements. But first things first: Cristóbal Balenciaga was born into poor circumstances on January 21, 1895 as the fifth child of a fisherman and a seamstress in the Basque town of Getaria in northern Spain. In the village of 1,300, the little boy was enthusiastic about Mama’s work. He took part and was encouraged by Mama’s boss, Margravine Casa Torres. At 16 he was a professional. And in 1917, at the age of 22, he founded the Balenciaga company in San Sebastián.
The most influential ladies in Spain were among his customers at the time. A tragic event indirectly helped him achieve his big breakthrough: Because of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Balenciaga moved to France. He took Paris by storm and dominated the golden age of haute couture.
The designer has dressed film superstars such as Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, Greta Garbo and Audrey Hepburn, and has also designed for philanthropist Mona von Bismarck and First Lady Jackie Kennedy. He also designed the wedding dress for Belgian Queen Fabiola.
With its pioneering craftsmanship, Balenciaga revolutionized the fashion world in the 1950s. As the inventor, he gave the female silhouette new forms, including bowler sleeves, balloon skirts, sack dresses and baby-doll dresses. The avant-garde, mysterious “King of Haute Couture” gave no interviews. Few statements are therefore handed down from him. But he is said to have once said: “A woman does not have to be perfect or beautiful to wear my clothes. The dress will do the work for her.”
Later fashion legends such as Oscar de la Renta, Hubert de Givenchy and Emanuel Ungaro started their careers in his studios. None other than Christian Dior called Balenciaga the “master of us all”, and Coco Chanel revered him as the “only real couturier”. And de Givenchy was quoted by The New York Times as saying, “Balenciaga was my religion.”
But the man who had the fashion world at his feet for decades did not have happy years at the end of his life. Deeply disappointed because prêt-à-porter was increasingly crowding out haute couture, the horn-rimmed spectacles wearer closed his Parisian company in 1968 after 31 years and said goodbye to the fashion world. He only interrupted his retirement once: in 1972 he designed a wedding dress for the wedding of Carmen Martínez-Bordiú, a granddaughter of dictator Francisco Franco. Just a few days later, he died of a heart attack while on vacation in the eastern Spanish seaside resort of Jávea.
The resurgence of Balenciaga
Practically only kept alive by the perfume division, the Balenciaga brand languished for about a quarter of a century. Until the Frenchman Nicolas Ghesquière took over as chief designer in 1997 and brought Balenciaga back to the leading ranks of Parisian fashion houses with luxury streetwear such as leggings, cargo pants and sports stilettos. After a three-year stint by Alexander Wang, Demna Gvasalia was appointed as the new creative director in 2015. The German-Georgian from Düsseldorf went one better. The fashion rebel, who constantly breaks with traditional codes, made Balenciaga, with his so-called ugly style, the over-label, the favorite brand of fashion-conscious millennials and also the still very young Generation Z.
“Sock sneakers were totally in at our Othmarschen high school a few years ago, you saw them everywhere in the schoolyard, even though they cost at least 700 euros,” a 17-year-old from the wealthy west of Hamburg told the German Press Agency. At the moment, the Triple S sneakers are particularly popular. Among other things, Demna caused a stir with his Crocs with platform soles and high heels and his gender-unspecific creations. But not only with that. The 40-year-old is one of the few who keeps trying to pull the fashion world out of its own bubble.
Last autumn he had the famous cartoon family around Homer, Bart and Maggie Simpson present his new collection in a special episode at the Paris Fashion Week. And about two weeks ago, Demna, who fled to Germany from the civil war in Georgia at the age of twelve, was the first to take a stand in Paris against the Ukraine war. He had his models parade in an artificial snowstorm, some with plastic bags in hand. The bold and innovative Balenciaga would have applauded.
In Getaria, where the designer is buried, the Balenciaga Museum, founded in 2011, has announced several special exhibitions and events to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. The Disney+ streaming service is making a series about the Basques. But the greatest appreciation probably came from Demna. With his fall-winter 2021-2022 collection, he brought haute couture back into the home after more than half a century. He sees this move as his “creative duty to Mr. Balenciaga’s unique legacy.”