Communiqué de presse Balenciaga EN

PRESS RELEASE
BALENCIAGA, LACE MAGICIAN
The Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais
18th April to 31st August 2015
In celebration of the 120th anniversary of the birth of Cristóbal Balenciaga
(Getaria, 1895-1972, Javea, Spain), the Museum of Lace and Fashion in
Calais presents a new exhibition dedicated to this great designer. The
show is the first of its kind to specifically address the topic of Balenciaga’s
lace creations, a theme of considerable importance when we consider the
prominent place which lace occupied in the designer’s work throughout
his long career.
A co-production by the Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais / the Cristóbal
Balenciaga Foundation, Getaria, Spain. Presented in Calais in 2015 and Getaria in
2016, this exhibition has been made possible by exceptionally generous loans
from the Cristóbal Balenciaga Foundation and the Archive Department of Maison
Balenciaga, Paris, and with the support of Paris’ Museum of the Decorative Arts, the
Palais Galliera, the City of Paris’ museum of fashion, and the Maison Lesage.
Exhibition curator: Catherine Join-Diéterle
Exhibition design / Graphic design: StudioTovar-Alain Batifoulier
Cristóbal Balenciaga, cocktail dress
in painted lace, 1953
© Henry Clarke/Corbis
Piece now in the collections of the Museum
of Lace and Fashion in Calais
With the patronage of Mr. Hubert de Givenchy, this exhibition is the subject
of an application for ‘Exhibition of National Significance’ status.
Cristóbal Balenciaga was an avowed devotee of lace, using
it as a fabric and for ornamental purposes. Experimenting
with different motifs, colours and applications, Balenciaga
fully explored lace’s endless possibilities and celebrated
its distinctive qualities. From jackets to cocktail dresses,
tunics to accessories, lace is an almost constant presence
in his creations, a testament to the stylistic originality
of a creator who was often the driving force behind the
evolution of fashion in the 1950s and 1960s.
Balenciaga’s designs often invoke the memory of the
sumptuous Spanish fashions painted by Goya and Zuolaga,
or the dresses worn by Zurbarán’s saints, a heritage
particularly evident in some of his more spectacular
evening gowns. With his use of lace accessories and items
such as scarves, stoles, capes, boleros, ruffles, mantillas
and elbow gloves, Balenciaga concentrated on amplifying
the inherent femininity of lace clothing.
This exhibition also invokes the memory of forgotten lace
producers such as Marescot, Dognin and Brivet, and offers
a rare opportunity to rediscover seldom-used materials
and techniques such as wool lace and crepe lace. The
fabric samples on show also offer a reminder that lace
patterns were often painted by hand, or re-embroidered
subsequently by renowned specialists such as Lesage
or Rébé. As for the tulle panels, lace without elaborate
patterns, they might be embroidered to resemble English
needlepoint, or else adorned with gazar ribbons to
reproduce the effect of lace patterns.
Featuring almost 75 outfits and accessories (hats,
gloves, shoes) along with dozens of studio photographs
and sketches, this exhibition presents a wide-ranging
overview of the oeuvre of the Spanish legend, offering a
comprehensive examination of Balenciaga’s relationship
with lace.
Balenciaga’s Parisian creations are joined here by some
of the many designs produced by his Spanish fashion
houses, whose fabrics he selected in Paris. The Museum of
Lace and Fashion in Calais has acquired a certain number
of these pieces, which are particularly rare in French
museums. Presenting this exhibition in Calais, where much
of the mechanical lace used by the great designer was
originally produced, is also a chance for the museum to
pay homage to the city’s lace-making industry.
Cristóbal Balenciaga, evening gown with high waist and body-stole in
satin and lace, 1958 © Manuel Outumuro
Piece now in the collections of the Fundación Cristóbal Balenciaga
Fundazioa, Getaria, Spain
BALENCIAGA, LACE MAGICIAN
Although there has been no shortage of exhibitions dedicated to Cristóbal
Balenciaga, this is the first such show to directly address the importance
of lace in the work of the great Basque designer. Throughout his career,
Balenciaga’s passion for lace was such that it is impossible to establish
an exhaustive catalogue of all of his creations which incorporated this
noble material. Focusing on haute couture creations, i.e. made-to-measure
pieces, this exhibition proposes a threefold approach to Balenciaga’s work,
examining his artistry in the context of the social history of his time, in the
context of the fashion of this era, and in the context of the evolution of
production techniques in both the lace and high fashion industries.
First developed in Renaissance Italy and Flanders, lace spread rapidly
throughout Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Mechanical
production greatly expanded access to this luxury product in the nineteenth
century, and lace and tulle enjoyed great popularity with the leading fashion
designers of the post-War era, not least Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Cristóbal Balenciaga, formal bolero embroidered by Lesage,
1959 © Manuel Outumuro
Piece now in the collections of the Fundación Cristóbal
Balenciaga Fundazioa, Getaria, Spain
RE-EXAMINING THE SOCIAL CUSTOMS OF THE POST-WAR ERA
In an age where social expectations still dictated the lives of the
moneyed classes, even if these constraints were beginning to
wane, lace was a prominent feature of certain types of garment to
be worn at certain times of day, and more particularly for certain
special occasions such as weddings. Lace was thus a constant
presence throughout the day: discreet on a skirt suit in the
morning, and spectacular on an evening gown at night.
From the late afternoon onwards, and particularly at the cocktail
hour, lace really came into its own. Hence the dazzling array of
gown/mantle, gown/cape, gown/jacket ensembles, in which the
gown is always the dominant element. Sometimes coloured lace
was used, sometimes black. The latter is represented here in the
wonderful collection of ‘little black dresses’, a fashion essential
which corresponded to the social customs of the day.
The evening was a time for dresses, long or short depending on
the social importance of the soirée. Balenciaga, remembering
the convertible outfits of the 1920s, began to imagine new forms
and styles. A fine example is the dress with integrated scarf to
cover the décolletage, thus making it suitable for a cocktail party,
which can then be removed to reveal the shoulders and transform
the dress into an elegant evening gown. Another example is the
spectacular short evening dress presented here: the skirt can be
converted into a cape, allowing the wearer to remain elegant at
the end of the evening without getting cold. Formal occasions
called for elaborate gowns, such as the tulle piece presented here
in which the embroidery work is so compact and intricate that the
pattern of the fabric is lost in the abundance of jet black sparkle.
BALENCIAGA AND FASHION: A VERY MODERN DESIGNER
Balenciaga’s creations which predate the social revolution of the
1960s were already decidedly modern. As early as 1957 he was
dressing his international clientele in models such as the sack
dress and the baby doll, integrating lace elements and meeting
the new priority of the age: to make the wearer look younger.
A resolutely European designer, English in his tailor’s training and
French in his impeccable knowledge of Parisian haute couture,
Balenciaga was nonetheless a creator with a keen eye for fashions
from all over the world. He was capable of assimilating the essence
of these fashions – European or exotic, contemporary or classical
– as well as soaking up influences from historical portraits. These
artistic models were primarily Spanish and French in origin, but
Balenciaga succeeded in transcending his influences to create
clothes which were modern and yet classic, a timelessness which
makes them wearable even today.
Cristóbal Balenciaga, cocktail dress and mantle in black lace,
pink corselet belt, 1951 © Henry Clarke/Corbis
Piece now in the collections of the Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais
LACE EFFECTS
Balenciaga incorporated certain elements gleaned from Goya’s
portraits, such as the hint of lace frill peeking out at the edge of a
garment, or the glimpse of a pink belt partly obscured by a mantle.
What fascinated him most about Zurbarán’s celebrated studies
of saints was the ‘sculpted’ effect of their skirts. He succeeded in
reproducing this effect using gazar, the fabric created especially
for him by Swiss textile experts Abraham, which he used to sculpt
robes with sloping waistlines. Balenciaga had an unrivalled knack
for combining lace with other fabrics, a skill perhaps nowhere more
clearly expressed than in the fuchsia gown with its satin skirt and
embroidered tulle corsage, an echo of the embroidered styles so
emblematic of the Belle Époque.
Another of Balenciaga’s great strengths was his gift for accentuating
the lightness and transparency of lace, playing on the contrast
between the airy sleeves and front panels and the wearer’s skin.
Better yet, horsehair ribbons stitched beneath the flounces of the
skirts provided a solid frame, sculpting these skirts into graceful,
seemingly weightless forms. On other occasions Balenciaga opted
for lace featuring large, re-embroidered patterns, whose lack of
transparency recalled the ‘Duchess point’ style so popular in the
late nineteenth century.
Balenciaga often paired his dresses with lace scarves, partially
hiding the wearer’s shoulders but stitched to the corsage so that
the hands remained free. The result was an effect of unencumbered
elegance, with flowing, scrolling lace framing the décolletage and
embellishing the wearer’s movements without having to be held in
place.
Cristóbal Balenciaga, evening gown in Dognin lace, 1951 EISA label (Spain)
© Florian Kleinefenn
Piece now in the collections of the Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais
Cristóbal Balenciaga, formal evening gown in Dognin lace, 1951,
BALENCIAGA label (Paris) © Henry Clarke/Corbis
THE INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS OF CALAIS LACE
Paris’ most celebrated designers ordered their lace from
Calais, Lyon and Caudry. Balenciaga used lace for all of
his creations, in Paris but also in San Sebastián, Madrid
and Barcelona. And so for over 20 years, from the end of
the war until the master’s retirement in 1968, Balenciaga’s
clients in Paris, and throughout Europe and America, were
dressed in Calais lace.
The materials provided by lace-makers in this period did
show some signs of innovation, but more often in their use
of artificial or synthetic fibres – silk is a rare commodity –
than in their generally very traditional patterns. The classic
models were established in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries: peonies, pomegranate flowers, Chantilly roses.
Lace was often reworked. In the 1950s these fabrics
were often painted by hand, embroidered with coloured
threads and fine ribbons, sequins and pearls, or even straw
and raffia. The next decade saw the introduction of plastic
elements in ever more vibrant colours. Balenciaga also
developed a taste for adorning tulle lace with organza
ribbons, creating a light, frothy effect.
THE DAY-TO-DAY LIFE OF A HAUTE COUTURE HOUSE
This exhibition also features a wealth of documents: orders, invoices and studio
sketches, along with client files and a large number of photographs taken for
copyright purposes, registering Balenciaga’s designs to fend off counterfeiters. This
trove of documentary evidence provides a unique insight into the day-to-day running
of a haute couture house. We also get a glimpse of many pieces created in Spain, but
based on prototypes originally crafted for the Parisian collections.
Over and above the inherent beauty of the items on display, this exhibition thus has
an educational dimension, addressing some of the questions frequently posed by
visitors regarding the changing tastes and styles of years gone by, and life behind the
scenes at one of the most illustrious fashion houses of the age, a world that has now
disappeared from view.
Catherine Join-­Diéterle
Exhibition Curator
Catherine Join-Diéterle has a doctorate in the History of Art. She is a National Heritage Curator
and an Honorary Director of the Palais Galliera, the City of Paris’ museum of fashion, as well as
an author and freelance exhibition curator. After a spell as curator of the Musée du Petit Palais
in Paris, in 1989 she was appointed Director of the Palais Galliera, the City of Paris’ museum of
fashion, a post she would occupy until 2009. She founded the Chair for Fashion and Dress at
the Ecole de Louvre in 2007, and now teaches at Esmod Paris. Catherine Join-Diéterle has also
curated a large number of exhibitions: Evening Gowns, Givenchy and The Crinoline Empire to
name but a few. More recently she curated the exhibition L’envers du décor (Behind the Scenes)
at the National Centre for Costumes and Stage Design in Moulins.
Cristóbal Balenciaga, skirt suit, 1965
Photograph of model © Archives Balenciaga, Paris
Item now in the collections of the Museum of Lace and Fashion in Calais
Cristóbal Balenciaga at his offices in Paris, 1959
© Gyenes / Fonds Gyenes / Biblioteca Nacional de España
CRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA
Born in 1895 at Getaria in the Spanish Basque Country, Cristóbal
Balenciaga lost his father at the age of 11. He soon began helping out
his mother, who supported the family by mending dresses for the rich
families who holidayed in Getaria. This experience awakened Balenciaga’s
interest in fashion, and at the age of 12 he began an apprenticeship with
a tailor in San Sebastián, before going on to spend time in a succession
of Spanish fashion houses. After three years spent in Bordeaux, in 1917
he opened his first studio in San Sebastián. He would visit Paris and
acquire pieces by Vionnet and Chanel in order to study the way they
were cut. Over the next twenty years Balenciaga founded a series of
haute couture and fashion houses, with his later establishments bearing
the name Eisa in homage to his mother’s maiden name: Eizaguirre.
Forced into exile by the Spanish Civil War, in 1936 he opened his
first haute couture house in Paris at 10 Avenue George V. His work
immediately drew praise from the critics, who appreciated the
precision of his lines, his predilection for black and his creative use of
embroidery and lace. The press also noted his unique blend of French
and Spanish influences, and sensitive reinterpretation of 18th and 19thcentury models. Balenciaga was considered by his contemporaries, not
least Christian Dior, as a master of the art of fashion, and a major source
of inspiration. Balenciaga dressed a diverse clientele comprised of old
money aristocrats, European and American celebrities and classic film
stars like Marlene Dietrich...
It was in Paris that Balenciaga’s genius truly blossomed. Among his
most influential innovations were the introduction of the ‘barrel line’ in
1947, the semi-fitted suit and smocked blouse in 1951, the tunic in 1955,
the sack and baby-doll dresses in 1957… A great connoisseur of fabrics,
he commissioned Abraham to create a special material just for him:
gazar, which he would ‘sculpt’ to create extravagant skirts for some of
his evening gowns. These creations consciously echoed the works of
Spanish artist Zurbarán. He also commissioned embroidery works from
the great craftsmen of the day: Lesage, Rébé, etc. In spite of their great
originality, Balenciaga’s creations are essentially timeless. In 1968, at the
peak of his international fame, Cristóbal Balenciaga retired and closed
all four of his fashion houses, three in Spain and one in Paris. He died in
Javea in 1972.
Balenciaga has been the subject of numerous exhibitions all over the
world (New York, London, Paris, Melbourne etc.), and a museum has
been created in his honour in his home town of Getaria.
THE MUSEUM OF LACE AND FASHION
Housed in a former lace factory typical of the large workshops which
flourished here in the nineteenth century, the Museum of Lace and Fashion
provides an original setting in which to discover an exceptional collection of
artefacts recounting the history of lace production in Calais, the evolution of
the textile industry and the place of lace in fashion. The museum’s collections
are divided into five gallery spaces spread across 2500m2, addressing themes
such as the craft and techniques of lace-making, the social and economic
history of lace and its uses, as well as the role of lace in contemporary
fashion. A living, thriving centre of learning and debate, the museum also
aims to serve as a showcase for the lace-making profession, contributing
to the international renown of Calais, the global capital of mechanical lace.
Bearing witness to Calais’ epic industrial history, the museum takes visitors
on an incredible journey to the heart of lace. The permanent exhibition
lifts the lid on the secrets of the manufacturing process, with a crowning
attraction in the form of four fully-functioning Leavers looms, complete with
professional weavers producing authentic Calais lace before your very eyes.
More than just a museum, this cultural centre is also a vibrant hub of
discussion and discovery, with a packed programme of visiting exhibitions,
cultural activities for families, debates and presentations, textile workshops,
guided tours and more.
Practical Information
Fashion display, CIDM © F.Kleinefenn
External facade, CIDM © F.Kleinefenn
Museum of Lace and Fashion
135 Quai du Commerce - 62100 Calais
Tel: + 33 (0)3 21 00 42 30
cite-dentelle@mairie-calais.fr / www.cite-dentelle.fr
Facilities open to the public: boutique, document centre, restaurant
and 3D measuring booth.
Opening Hours
Every day except Tuesdays, 10:00 – 18:00
Annual holidays: 1st-15th January inclusive, 1st May and 25th December
Prices
Permanent collections and Balenciaga exhibition: €7 / Concessions: €5
Balenciaga exhibition: €4 / Concessions: €3
Seven-Day Pass for the Lace Museum / Fine Arts Museum:
€7 / Concessions: €5
Annual Pass for the Lace Museum / Fine Arts Museum: €22 /
Concessions: €16
Concessions: visitors with disabilities, jobseekers, visitors aged 65 and over,
under 18s, students and families. Entrance to the museum is free for children
under the age of 5, and free for all visitors on the first Sunday every month.
Special prices and guided tours available for groups.
For more information call: +33 (0)3 21 00 42 32.
Getting here
A 26 or A 16 motorways, Junction No.44 ‘Calais Saint Pierre’.
Calais-Ville train station (10 minutes on foot)
Calais Frethun train station: take SNCF shuttle service to Calais-Ville
Events related to this exhibition
Full details of the museum’s programme of cultural events can be found at
www.cite-dentelle.fr and on our Facebook page.
Catalogue
A bilingual catalogue in English and French, featuring 150 richly-illustrated
pages, is available to accompany this exhibition. A joint publication from
the Museum of Lace and Fashion and Somogy. RRP: €25€
Press Contact:
Agence Observatoire
www.observatoire.fr
68 rue Pernety - 75014 Paris
Tel: + 33 (0)1 43 54 87 71
Aurélie Cadot: aureliecadot@observatoire.fr