Balenciaga

Inheriting his mother's passion for fabrics and cultivating the dream to become a high level couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Basque by origin and Parisian by adoption, began to cultivate his dream by working as a tailor in his country, developing his talent in the design and manufacture of garments. At the age of twenty he opened his first shop in Paris, on Avenue George V, on the third floor of Palazzo Borghese. It is precisely Paris that shapes the backdrop to Balenciaga's talent and timeless style, but "the titan of fashion" does not forget his origins: lace, bolero and contrast between red and black always appear in his collections. His sources of inspiration come from art: the fabrics recall the plays of light of Manet's French Impressionism, the colours are a tribute to Velasquez's Spanish soul or to Goya's more mystical and gloomy soul. Red and black, precious inlays, lace and boleros come together in his atelier in a perfect balance between fabric, shape and human body. Stylists like Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy and Coco Chanel pronounced words like: "the only real couturier, after all, was him, the others are just fashion designers". They, together with many other designers from the past and present, have expressed admiration for Balenciaga as he has been a real cult and a source of inspiration. Today the Balenciaga brand is led by Demna Gvasalia who, though provocatively contemporary, takes up some of Cristobal's geometrical silhouettes, supporting the mantra "It is important to know the past to be able to conceive the future". Characterised by an increasingly innovative vision, the historic French maison has brought the Balenciaga Kids line onto the catwalk: small-scale replicas of its most popular street models. Sporty, no gender and super urban: Balenciaga Kids involves future generations and conquers the most important subways in the world.