Balenciaga evening ensemble, 1967 | Courtesy of Balenciaga Archives, Paris.
In two days, on Friday, the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute in New York will open a truly unique exhibition to the public – Balenciaga: Spanish Master.
Balenciaga: Spanish Master will exhibit over seventy attires picked by it’s curator Hamish Bowles from the Balenciaga archives in Paris, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology and various private collections.
Cristóbal Balenciaga opened his Paris fashion house in 1937 and gifted us with his designs for five long decades until his retirement in 1968. As the exhibit shows, albeit an innovator that transformed the way women dressed, Balenciaga was still deeply influenced by his Spanish roots and religion. With true mastery he created flamenco-inspired dresses and matador boleros referencing Spanish culture and evening ensembles loosely resembling red and white Cardinal attires. On other end of the spectrum you have the more experimental pieces like the 1967 four-point silk gazar evening dress.
It is when looking at Balenciaga’s past that you understand why Nicolas Ghesquière, Balenciaga’s present, works so hard to be innovative. Using geometry, futurism and unconventional materials as his inspiration.
Balenciaga: Spanish Master exhibition will open to the public on November 19, 2010 and remain on view through February 19, 2011 at the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute, 684 Park Avenue in New York.
Balenciaga evening dress and stole, 1952 | Frances McLaughlin-Gill / Vogue; Copyright © Condé Nast.
Balenciaga “Infanta” evening dress, 1939 | Copyright, R.J. Horst—Courtesy Staley/Wise Gallery, NYC.
Balenciaga evening dress, 1964 | Courtesy of Balenciaga Archives, Paris.
