Balenciaga Handbags – A Background

Cristobal Balenciaga is one of my new favorite fashion designers.  Although he is not new, actually he lived from January 21, 1895 until March 23, 1972, and became a famous designer in the early part of the twentieth century; he is relatively new to me.  Since I think he is so incredible, let me share with you a little bit about his history before we get into his beautiful Balenciaga handbags.

Guetaria is a Basque town in the Gipuzkoa region of Spain and the place where Cristobal Balenciaga was born.  Although the town is a fishing village, Cristobal chose… to spend a lot of his time while growing up alongside his mother, who worked as a seamstress.  Eventually he gained an apprenticeship with a tailor.  While still in his teens, a major event took place in his life that put his incredible fashion design career on its path.  That event was that the Marquesa de Casa Torres became a customer and fan of his.  She was a noblewoman and arranged for him to go to Madrid, Spain, to have a proper education (training) as a tailor.  I think it is this early formal education that makes him such a great designer.  He could do it all – from the concept design to the follow through of actually creating the garments and accessories himself.  He gained clients within the royal family and the upper crust, and opened his own boutique.  In 1914 Cristobal opened his first boutique.  He was successful until the Spanish Civil War happened, when he had to close.  He then moved to Paris and resumed designing.  In 1937 he opened his couture house there in Paris.  He was incredibly successful.  Designer Christian Dior was quoted as calling Balenciaga, “The master of us all.”  One of his most famous clients was the First Lady of the United States of America, Jacqueline Kennedy.  In the mid-twentieth century Cristobal Balenciaga was credited with some major fashion design departures, but that is a discussion for another time.

During his time in Spain, he worked in San Sebastian, and created the “World of Balenciaga.”  At the height of his career he had established his couture in many major European cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, and was known all over the world.

By 1968 Balenciaga left the haute couture arena because he became “disillusioned” with the way things were going within the French fashion world.  However, it wasn’t a total loss to the world of high fashion because he did “give back” in the form of teaching other designers.  The company, Balenciaga, is now owned by the Gucci Group.  The designs are still great and still attract the rich and famous.  Some patrons you might have seen photographed wearing Balenciaga handbags include Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Kidman, just to name a few.