The best fashion designers are known for their unique looks, level of knowledge, individual style and trademark shades and silhouettes. Yet, at times, it can be tricky to spot the more technical details that are quintessential to a specific designer, especially if you're not well versed in the technicalities of fashion. That said, there are accessible ways to discover the vocabulary of a designer.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cristóbal Balenciaga's death, the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum in Getaria, Spain has for example launched an exhibition - "Balenciaga Character" (until 1st March 2023) that will help visitors to understand what makes "a Balenciaga" recognisable.
Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre (Getaria 1895 - Valencia 1972), also known as the "Master" of Haute Couture by his colleagues, directed for five decades his high fashion houses in San Sebastián (1917), Madrid (1933), Barcelona (1935) and Paris (1937). His name became synonymous with elegance, avant-garde, beauty and timelessness.
The Getaria exhibition features 90 designs, including Balenciaga's creations for his Eisa Costura label (Eisa was an abbreviated form of his mother's patronymic), that was dedicated to traditional quality dressmaking for an upper middle-class public.
The designs on display go from the sculpted silhouettes of the late '30s passing through the iconic designs of the '50s and the more abstract and modern creations from the '60s. Displayed in different rooms of the museum, the designs allow visitors to study their construction, shapes and silhouettes, volumes and fabrics.
It is quite often frustrating to look at designs in display cabinets during fashion exhibitions and to see just one side of that garment, the front or, maybe, the back.
Curator Igor Uria, Collections Director at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum, decided instead to show what's hidden, to discover the cut and technique beyond Balenciaga's designs.
In this way visitors are allowed to discover the power of the label, the importance of pads, weights, linings and pockets - invisible or almost secret aspects of a garment, that contribute to create Balenciaga's iconic designs.
The curator also prompts visitors to admire the meticulous details of the buttonholes, the sumptuous embroideries, the precise sleeves and the colours and consistency of the fabrics, like the intense carmine colour and creased surface reminiscent of a crested Celosia flower of a design from 1937.
Architectural precision, ample volumes and sharp cuts make Balenciaga's designs recognisable, but the best revelation is that the designer favoured a minimum number of seams in the cut that allowed him to create fluidly sculpted pieces.
This exhibition is recommended to those fashion fans who want to sharpen their attention to details, build their own Balenciaga vocabulary and learn to apply this newly learnt fashion glossary to dissect other designers' creations.
Comments