Balenciaga Exhibit

As you know my daughter and I planned to go to Bendigo to see the Balenciaga Exhibition, which we did. We drove up on Sunday, and spent a good deal of the afternoon looking around Bendigo's gardens at the beautiful tulip displays. Then Monday we went to the Art Center to see the fashions.

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera as planned and asked my daughter to take photos with her phone. Normally they would have been pretty reasonable to show here, however the lighting in the Art Center was so poor this time round the photos were not that great and even editing didn't help. That was disappointing in itself, but as we wandered through the collection, we noticed ...

there were very few pieces by Balenciaga himself, and that disappointed me the most. Much of what we saw was inspired by him, but produced by his contemporaries. What did impress me however, was the dress on the top right . . . look closely and you'll see it's inside out . . . the workmanship and finish is impeccable. Balenciaga truly was a perfectionist in every sense.

When we were leaving I purchased a copy of the book that accompanies the exhibition, and the introduction read:

"In the world of present-day dressmakers, Balenciaga stands apart . . . If Dior is the Watteau of dressmaking - full of nuances, chic, delicate and timely - then Balenciaga is fashion's Picasso. For like that painter, underneath all of his experiments with the modern, Balenciaga has a deep respect for tradition and a pure classic line."
Cecil Beaton, 1954

You can tell from the many quotations throughout the book, that Beaton was an avid admirer of Balenciaga and his workmanship.

"In his work Balenciaga shows the refinement of France and the strength of Spain. His dresses have elegance and solidity: like their maker, they can mingle with kings and keep the common touch. Balenciaga does not provide any startling changes. His is a slow and carefully worked out development."
Cecil Beaton, 1954

Already in 1954, Cecil Beaton acknowledged presciently the lasting quality of Balenciaga's vision and production. More than 60 years later, his words seem just as valid because the Spanish couturier's name has become a byword for quality among the cognoscenti, and gaining wider cultural currency as a result of the globalisation of the Balenciaga brand and the many exhibitions and publications around Balenciaga himself. In a profession that looks for heroes, and often praises or criticises too easily, Balenciaga stood out - and still stands out - on account of both his personal qualities and the unerringly high standard of his work.

Just two weeks before his death at the age of 77, he was still at work, applying his critical eye to his final invention, and making hands-on interventions. Appropriately this finale was - as in all good fashion shows - a wedding dress, and it was to receive major press coverage. Worn by the Spanish dictator's granddaughter Maria del Carmen Martinez-Bordiu y Franco for her marriage to Alfonso, Duque de Anjou y Cadiz on 8th March 1972.

Closest to Balenciaga in their working practises were his acolyte Hubert de Givenchy (b.1927) and his apprentices Andre Courreges (1924-2016) and Emanuel Ungaro (b. 1933). His successor, Nicolas Ghesquiere (b. 1971) was in contrast to the former, and the ready-to-wear designer to revive the reputation of the house in the late 1990's. Nicolas, who was born just a year before Balenciaga's death, did not know the Master, merely his reputation, and he did not really know the quality of his work until joining the house.

Photo above left: Courreges 1967. Photo above right: Mini-dress, Ghesquiere for Balenciaga 2006. Parallels between the couture production of Balenciaga and the high-end ready-to-wear of Ghesquiere's homage to Balenciaga are evident in the quality of the materials (plain silk and silk brocade) and the embellishment (crystal buttons and embroidery) and in the bouffant effect created by the pleated and flounced quilted skirt that is supported internally with gathered bunches of different fabric.

The house of Balenciaga has gone through many changes of ownership over the past few decades. In 2001 Gucci added Balenciaga to its stable of prize luxury businesses. By then the Kering Group had begun to build up a luxury goods division, initially by buying a minority share in Gucci in 1999 and increasing it until it owned 99.04 per cent in 2004. It now owns Gucci and Balenciaga outright, alongside Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Bucheron, Dodo, Girard-Perregaux, Pomellato, Qeelin and Ulysse Nardin.

I am so sorry, there are not as many photos of his beautiful gowns as I would have like to show you, but these will have to suffice.

Daughter and I wandered over to the Wine Bank afterwards and both found a little solace in this! We ended up polishing off two bottles between us during the rest of the afternoon and our early dinner, fortunately we only had a short walk back to our Motel.

Big hugs,
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