Vogue On Cristobal Balenciaga

In 1936, Crist?bal Balenciaga opened a fashion house in Paris, after fleeing the Spanish civil war; within a couple of seasons he had raised fashion to the level of art. Christian Dior called Balenciaga `the master of us all', while Coco Chanel claimed that he alone was `a couturier in the truest sense of the word . . . the others are simply fashion designers'. In the Fifties he revolutionised women's silhouette, experimenting with the semi-fitted shape, the sack dress, the cocoon and the babydoll. His innovative designs were famously easy to wear, with one diplomat's wife quipping that she could play golf in her Balenciaga gown. In the Sixties, despite the waning power of couture, he created some of his most imaginative clothes, culminating in the bold, fluid lines of his last two collections. Always something of an enigma, he preferred to let his clothes speak for themselves.