Cristobal Balenciaga Cristobal Balenciaga was born in 1895, just over the French border, in an ancient fishing village called Guetaria, in Spain’s Basque country. In 1937, after opening his own tailoring shops in Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, and Guetaria, he emigrated to Paris due to the Spanish Civil War. His designs instantly met with acclaim and he would remain there for more than 30 years. His clientele included many of the most elegant women of the postwar …showed first 75 words of 489 total…

…showed last 75 words of 489 total…sleeves, or the base of the neck being framed by a shallow, curved, stand-away collar. Balenciaga’s timeless classics have had incalculable influence over other designers and the clothing that women have worn through all this years. His sense of proportion and balance, his mastery of cut, his touches of wit, the architectural quality and essential rightness of his designs have made him be acknowledged as one of the giants of the 20th century couture.