(Irving Penn. Sue Murray in an evening gown by Cristóbal Balenciaga, 1967. Condé Nast)
A large sample of the designer arrives in The Hague half a century after his death
It is probably by chance that, while the Sorolla Museum reviews the trace in the Valencian palette of the color with which we least associate it, Kunstmuseum den Haag reviews the blacks present in the works of one of our greatest fashion makers: Cristóbal Balenciaga, of whom Dior went so far as to affirm that he was the conductor of an orchestra in front of the rest of the designers of his time, musicians at his side.
This year marks half a century of his death and, remembering that black favors his sculptural and complex workmanship, this Dutch center hosts the “Balenciaga in black” exhibition, which has one hundred pieces from the collections of the Palais Galliera and the Maison Balenciaga and that supposes the greatest presentation of the legacy of Getaria in that country.
The approach of the exhibition will not come as a surprise to connoisseurs of his fabrics: Balenciaga was aware that black was the most appropriate color for his work, be it tailored suits, evening dresses or voluminous baby dolls , by enhancing the richness of the textures, often in contrast to each other in the same design, and the exquisiteness of the details. In black we will see lace, embroidery, velvet, draped silks, fringes or shiny sequins, but also prototypes, in marked opposition to the raw cotton used by most couturiers at that time.
Practical issues aside, it is inevitable to link that tone in him to the Spanish cultural heritage, from the traditional clothing of so many regions to the sober clothing predominant in the portraits of the Habsburg rulers and their court; non-color is inextricably linked to our idiosyncrasy, yesterday and today, and there is nothing casual about it that predominates in the canvases of our indispensable Velázquez , Goya and Zurbarán , who were a great source of inspiration for the Basque. In addition, he not only evoked that black legacy through the use of mantillas, ruffles and lace; the international and the local always coexisted in his work.
Unlike other designers who were his contemporaries, Balenciaga was trained as a tailor, so we can say that he knew his trade from the inside out and was able to get involved, with passion and knowledge of the cause, in each stage of the gestation of a design. When talking about his processes, it is necessary to underline his fondness for craftsmanship and precision, as well as for his well-known revolutionary silhouettes.
And, one man band as we said, he also handled some business codes. Active between 1937 and 1968 (these are, respectively, the years corresponding to the launch of his first collection on the catwalk and the closing of his salon in Paris), from 1956 he decided to present his seasonal designs one month after the usual fashion weeks. of the French capital, achieving a double objective: to avoid any risk of imitation and to become the epitome or finishing touch of the fashion shows. Hubert de Givenchy, a close friend of his, later began to do the same.
That final stage of his career is the focus of this Dutch exhibition, which has brought together some of his most significant creations from that time: nearly sixty garments and also black toiles (cotton prototypes), hats and jewelry, drawings, film footage and photographs from the archives of the Balenciaga House. It must be remembered that, in the 1950s, when Dior’s New Look prevailed among elegant women, our designer decided to bet on other lines: he reinterpreted feminine shapes, left aside the tight waist and lit up silhouettes that fell away from the body. In short, he opted for comfort, freedom of movement and volume, as is evident in his 1950 taffeta balloon dress, which he himself said wasas light as two clouds .
Christopher Balenciaga. Cloqué silk evening dress, 1962. Palais Galliera
Other of his revolutionary contributions were the barrel line (1947), the semi-fitted suit (1951), the tunic dress (1955) or the sack dress (1957), with a prominent place in the exhibition: visitors to the Kunstmuseum will be able to walk around them as if they were three-dimensional sculptures.
In working on these pioneering designs, Balenciaga endlessly experimented with different materials; his favorite was a fabric devised especially for him, gazar , made of resistant but light silk: he developed it in 1958 in collaboration with the Swiss textile manufacturer Abraham. It holds its shape well, so it was perfect for this author’s voluminous architectural creations.
His current heiress Demna Gvasalia, by the way, continues to appropriate black and volumetrics at the time that, seventy years later, the house does not lose influence.
