euskalkultura.eus

Miss  Charlize/London. “A woman has no need to be perfect or even beautiful to wear my dresses. The dress will do all that for her,” seemed to be his philosophy.

“His clothes were characterized by the sculptural quality, deft manipulation of textiles, and dramatic use of colour and texture….This exhibition reveals what made Balenciaga’s work so exceptional and how it continues to shape fashion—in couture and on the high street—today,” the museum notes read.

Guests were greeted at the lower gallery with the evening dress and cape, in stiff silk gazar from 1961, famous for its striking green color and architectural shape.

“Haute couture is like an orchestra whose conductor is Balenciaga. We other couturiers are the musicians and we follow the direction he gives,” Christian Dior once said, quoted on the walls of the gallery.

Also on the first floor were the V&A’s collection of Balenciagas circa 1950s and 1960s, the designer’s tools of the trade, and the singular privilege of being his client (who include Mona Bismarck, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Queen Fabiola of Belgium).

Guests got to see a 360-degree view of two of his fabulous frocks: the “Tulip” dress (worn in 1965 by Ava Gardner, who donated her Balenciagas to the museum), with its back bow detail inspired by the Japanese kimono) and the fuchsia silk taffeta evening dress (worn by Caroline Combe in 1954).

An elegant display was the all-black showcase led by the “Envelope” dress, circa 1967. There was an evening jacket inspired by a bullfighter (though Balenciaga didn’t condone bullfighting), his takes on kimono couture and ecclesiastical garments.

Looking for a Philippine connection? Balenciaga created a silk and silk thread cocktail dress based on the colorful manton de Manila shawls (which are really from China imported to the Philippines during the Spanish colonial rule from 1565 to 1898). The embroidery was made by Lesage Paris.

On the upper gallery were works of designers invariably influenced by Balenciaga’s innovative traditions, mainly his pupil Hubert de Givenchy, and house creative directors Nicolas Ghesquière (1997-2012) and Demna Gvasalia (2015 to present).

Givenchy: “I don’t think even the Bible has taught me as much as Balenciaga.”

Ghesquière: “I used his way of looking at things 360 degrees.”

Gvasalia: “The idea was to bring [Cristóbal’s] kind of elegance… But take it into a kind of cool and make it more modern.”

For fashion observers, collectors and students, this gallery is a glorious display of fashion’s brightest. You can marvel at Givenchy’s feathered dress for Gloria Guinness (1961), Yves Saint Laurent’s 1967 cocktail dress (silk, sequins, diamantes, crystal beads, plastic paillettes and ostrich feathers) for Lee Radziwill, Oscar de la Renta’s organza over tulle gown (2015);

Paco Rabanne’s plastic paillettes and metal wire evening dress (1967), Issey Miyake’s “Rhythm Pleats” (1990), Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçon’s cotton and elastic dress (1983) and Azzedine Alaia’s cotton denim and brass tips dress (1983).

I was amazed by the x-ray photograph of a Balenciaga silk taffeta evening dress made in 1955, showing the inner workings on a dress that can only come from a clever, genius mind.

“Balenciaga alone is a couturier in the truest sense of the word. Only he is capable of cutting material, assembling a creation and sewing it by hand. The others are simply fashion designers,” Coco Chanel said of The Master perfectly.