Cristobal Balenciaga
(1895-1972)
Cristobal Balenciaga Eisaguirre was born in 1895 in Guetaria, in the Province of Guipuzcoa, Spain. When he was seven years old, his father died and his mother in order to support her children took to sewing and ironing for the wealthier families, with summer houses in
the area. One of these families was the family of the Marquesa de Casa Torres, who took notice of Cristobal and at the age of twelve helped him get an apprenticeship with a tailor in the City of Sebastian, in Donostia, Spain.
In 1919, Balenciaga opened the first couture fashion house under his name, making individual garments for individual clients; for causes unknown, Balenciaga had to close the business that same year. In 1920 he reopened his fashion house again but with the name “Eisa," since by Spanish law he could not re-open a closed company, with the same name for a second time. In 1932, he opened a second couture house in Madrid, which was managed by his favorite niece “Tina;” and in 1938 he opened a third branch of “Eisa” in Barcelona that was managed by his nephew, Jose. Balenciaga’s success and important source of income and fame, is linked to his American clients and buyers. Private clients such as Mrs. De Osborne, Bunny Mellon, and Barbara Hutton placed extensive orders, and paraded his designs generating International publicity.
Balenciaga was not fond of popular trends; his clothes were often formal: uncluttered, balanced and restrained. He usually used somber colors, such as shades of dark brown. He later gained a reputation as a colorist and in a collection in the late 1950s, showed lambswool which had been dyed a bright yellow color and pink. In 1939, Balenciaga introduced a dropped shoulder line with a nipped-in waist and rounded hips, a style that prefigured the 1947 New Look. After the war he showed jackets with more natural waistlines and large sleeves. Ten years later he created a line in which he raised the hemlines of his dresses and coats at the front and dropped them at the back. In 1956, he presented a loose chemise dress, known as the sack. During the 1960s he showed loose, full jackets with dolman sleeves. Balenciaga was also one of the first designers to put his models into bodystockings. His name is associated with large buttons and a collar which, raised on a band, stands away from the throat and neck.
Balenciaga himself was a master tailor; he could cut and sew impeccably. In his own practice, Balenciaga involved himself in every aspect of his profession, producing sketches, choosing, cutting and sewing fabric, matching accessories, supervising the successful completion of every collection and even training his live mannequins. He was not reluctant to remaking garments that did not meet his demanding standards. In 1958, Cristobal Balenciaga received the Legion d’honneur Award, France’s highest honor, for his services to the fashion industry.
Cristobal Balenciaga achieved acclaim as “the master” of the twentieth-century fashion. He had participated in the world of fashion for more than fifty years when he retired. After leaving Paris, he spent his last years at Igueldo, his private home in northern Spain, where he entertained his very close friends. Balenciaga died in 1972 and was buried in the family mausoleum in Guetaria.
From 1987 to 2001, the house of Balenciaga was owned by Jacques Bogart, S.A. In 1987, a ready-to-wear line was launched and in 1995, French designer Nicolas Ghesquiere began designing for the house. In 2001, the Gucci Group acquired a controlling interest in the company.
