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A century of Balenciaga: the 10 defining moments in pictures | Fashion

A century of Balenciaga: the 10 defining moments – in pictures

The V&A’s latest fashion exhibition, Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion, captures the fashion house’s influential style. Here are the stand-out moments from each of its 10 decades

Jo Jones

Main image: Balenciaga night gowns collection, 1957.
Photograph: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Thu 25 May 2017 15.01 BST Last modified on Mon 2 Jul 2018 14.53 BST

  • 1920s

    Cristobal Balenciaga, 1927. The designer never had the personal profile of Coco Chanel or Christian Dior, but his work has arguably been more influential.

  • 1930s

    Balenciaga presents his first haute couture collection at his Paris salon at 10 Avenue George Saint. The crepe dress featured was shot for a 1937 Vogue shoot. His first Vogue cover wasn’t until 1950.

  • 1940s

    Balenciaga evening wear featured bold colours, architectural shapes and the clever manipulation of fabrics, such as this black slipper satin with yellow faille draped overskirt from the spring 1948 collection.

  • 1950s

    The zebra-crossing woollen coat with cape detail from Balenciaga, 1955.

  • 1960s

    Balenciaga designed the new Air France stewardess uniforms the same year he presented his last Paris collection before retiring and closing the fashion house, 1968.

  • 1970s

    Diana Vreeland shows off a one-seam coat by Balenciaga. In the spring of 1973, Vreeland joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as special consultant to the Costume Institute. One of her first legendary exhibitions was “The World of Balenciaga”.

  • 1980s

    Head designer Josephus Melchior Thimister’s take on Cristobal Balenciaga’s semi-fitted tailoring, 1989.

  • 1990s

    Nicolas Ghesquière’s debut collection for Balenciaga, a modest, predominately black collection that clearly showed Ghesquière’s talent for graphic silhouettes, 1998.

  • 2000s

    Kate Moss attends the Mario Testino exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery wearing a scene-stealing Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga, 2002 .

  • 2010s

    Demna Gvasalia honoured the 100th anniversary by reinterpreting Cristóbal Balenciaga’s 1950s couture dresses with giant matching Bazaar bags, for the finale of his autumn 2017 show.Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion opens on 27 May
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Martina Birk

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