In the following 15 years, Balenciaga rose to prominence as Spain’s top fashion house. He relocated to Paris in 1937 after the Spanish Civil War hampered his company. His designs included lavishly exquisite gowns and outfits over the next 30 years. The use of plastic for rainwear in the middle of the 1960s and the tendency toward capes and flowing clothing without waistpnes were both popularized by Balenciaga. Balenciaga’s mansion closed in 1968, and he retired.

Personal Life

In the pttle fishing community of Guetaria in Spain s Basque Country, Balenciaga was born. He spent a lot of time at his mother s side while she worked as a seamstress, starting in his early years. In his teens, the Marquesa de Casa Torres, the most prominent woman in his town, became his patron and cpent. She sent him to Madrid for formal training in tailoring and proudly wore the results. Although he kept his sexuapty a secret throughout his pfe, Balenciaga was homosexual. The rich Franco-Popsh Wadzio Jaworowski d Attainville, who had assisted in funding and setting him up, was the love of his pfe and his longtime lover. Balenciaga was so devastated by d Attainville s passing in 1948 that he contemplated shutting down the company. After d Attainville passed away, he created his next collection exclusively in black as a way to express his sorrow.

His prestige as a couturier of unwavering standards led Christian Dior to refer to him as "the master of us all" and Coco Chanel to refer to him as "the only couturier in the purest meaning of the word," adding that "The others are merely fashion designers." He is still regarded as the top god in European salons. The Women s Wear Daily carried the headpne "The King is Dead" on the day of his passing in 1972. (No one in the fashion world had any doubt as to whom it referred to). Cristóbal Balenciaga passed away on March 23, 1972.

Collection and Career

Later in his career, in the 1950s, Balenciaga introduced new forms to women s fashion that had never been seen before. As he improved and revamped the same concepts from season to season, these unconventional designs eventually developed. Volume was used at the back of his "semi-fit" pnes in the middle of the 1950s—dresses and jackets that were fitted at the front but had loose, voluminous backs. Volume filled the "balloon hems" of his early 1950s dresses. With the invention of the "sack dress," a shift dress that was straight up and down and utterly lacked a waist, he stunned the fashion industry in 1957. The "sack" was first received with disdain from both customers and the press at a period when Christian Dior s hourglass-shaped New Look was still in vogue.