the designers
Cristobal Balenciaga Eisaguirre was born in 1895 in Guetaria, Spain. His deftness and skill in making clothes was evident from a very early age. The following year he travelled to Paris. In a daze, he devoured the collections of Doucet, Worth, Drecoll and others.
After apprenticing with tailors in San Sabastian and Madrid, he opened his own shop in San Sabastian in 1919, frequently travelling to Paris to purchase couture dresses to study and to sell. Eventually he opened two more houses in Spain, naming them after his mother, Eisa. This was run by his sister from 1948 to 1968 when it closed. In 1935 he opened his Barcelona salon.
He left Spain when the civil war broke out and established himself in Paris in August 1937. From the start, a style was created which lived up to its expectations for thirty glorious years.
1938 The Duchess of Westminster ordered a pink jersey dress, and the American buyers ordered many of his gowns. Within a year, his name was heard everywhere.
1939 When the war began, Balenciaga closed briefly, then carried on using very little material. 1944 Balenciaga's collection featured kimono sleeves with empire line bodice.
Balenciaga hated the fashion press and publicity, and from 1957 denied them entry to his collections. He held his shows a full month after all the other couturiers. He hated the idea of working to please a voracious press that demanded new ideas with every collection. He did not work that way. He refined his ideas with every collection, increasing the level of excellence.
He trained Givenchy, Courreges, Ungaro and others and they even now, regard him as their mentor.
On May 12, 1958, he is made Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur .
In the 60's he was not as popular as he once was and he was not interested in going into pret-a-porter as many designers did. So in 1968 he retired which was a great surprise to everyone. He made only one more creation, the wedding dress of the Duqesa de Cadiz in 1972.
In 1974, after working in Paris for 30 years, he decided to retire and closed his fashion houses in Paris, Barcelona and Madrid, one after the other.
In 1972, he died aged 87.

the label
The house of Balenciaga still goes on today. From 1992 to 1997 Mechior Thimister was the head designer, when he left to start his own house.
From 1995, Nicolas Ghesquiere (born 1972) has taken over the designing for the house of Balenciaga. He worked with Jean-Paul Gaultier and Callaghan earlier. Ghesquiere has breathed new life into the elegant house of Balenciaga, with his avant-garde and successful designs.The house of Balenciaga was owned by Jacques Bogart SA till Spring of 2001, when a controlling interest was bought by Gucci.

Balenciaga was revered by his fellow designers. They called him "The Master" because he created some of the most powerful styles of the twentieth century. His designs were admired fort he sophisticated, timeless style and cut. His work was both austere and extravagant, focusing on proportion and making certain that the cut of the cloth followed the lines of the body, always allowing freedom of movement. His daywear dresses, suits, and even hats were simple, practical and elegant. His evening designs allowed room for frivolity, using elaborate fabrics, heavy beading, feathers, and wide, puffy skirts. Many of his designs were inspired by Spanish regional dress and influenced by paintings of the old Spanish masters. The sleeve He was always fanatically precise about sleeves. He himself cut them mathematically and would never allow a less than perfect sleeve to leave his salon on anybody, even visitors. The perfect sleeve should be a living sculpture, beautiful to behold, a discreet play of subtle folds ensuring total comfort. Many people who came to his salon, had their coats snatched away by the Master for improvements to the sleeves. These included the wife of the Spanish Ambassador, Hubert de Givenchy and Bettina Ballard. The colours Black was very evident, the black of Spain, so deep in tone that all other blacks looked grey beside it. He used all the browns, from chocolate to nutmeg, palest aquamarine, ice or hot pink, goldenrod, peacock blue, melon orange and teal green. He rarely used printed fabrics, preferring embroidery or sequins.

1947 Le Dix (W) Relaunched 2002
1948 La Fuite des Heures (W) (Fleeting moment)
1955 Quadrille (W) Relaunched 2002
1962 Eau de Balenciaga (W)
1971 Holang (M)
1973 Eau de Lavande (M)
1973 Cialenga (W)
1979 Michelle (W)
1980 Portos (M)
1986 Ho Hang Club (M)
1988 Prelude (W)
1988 Rumba (W)
1990 Balenciaga (W)
1990 Balenciaga (M)
1994 Talisman (W)
1994 Talisman Eau Transparent (W)
1998 Cristobal (W)
2000 Cristobal (M)
2003 Eau de Cristobal (W)

His most faithful clients included : the Queen of Spain, the Queen of Belgium, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Grace of Monaco, all regularly recognized in the press as the best-dressed women in the world. On March 24, 1972, the undisputed Master of all the great couturiers - the man who inspired GIVENCHY, UNGARO, SCHERRER, COURREGES and many others - passed away in Valencia