Balenciaga
Cristobal Balenciaga, a Spanish fashion designer had founded the fashion house Balenciaga. Trademarks of the house were Balenciaga’s odd, feminine, yet ultra-modern shapes and bubble skirts. The house of Balenciaga is now owned by the French multinational company PPR. Balenciaga opend his first couture house in Paris in 1937. During World War II, he was noted for his “square coat,” with sleeves cut in a single piece with the yoke, and for his designs with black (or black and brown) lace over bright pink fabric. His sophisticated customers risked their safety to travel to Europe to see Balenciaga’s clothes in this period. In the 1960s, Balenciaga was an innovator in his use of fabrics: he tended toward heavy fabrics, intricate embroidery, and bold materials. His trademarks included “collars that stood away from the collarbone to give a swanlike appearance” and shortened “bracelet” sleeves. His often spare, sculptural creations—including funnel-shape gowns of stiff duchess satin.
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