Balenciaga's last town to showcase life of Spain's most élite fashionista

A COSTA Blanca town where a world-renowned haute couture designer passed away will host a unique one-off exhibition of his life and works to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. 

Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre was born in Guetaria in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, the capital of which is San Sebastián, on January 21, 1895, and died two months and two days after his 77th birthday in 1972, in Jávea, northern Alicante province.

Although Jávea council is planning the exhibition for the year 2022, to mark the half-century of his demise in the last-ever town he holidayed in, this will not coincide with the exact date – it will take place in summer, to increase the number of potential visitors and give as many people as possible a chance to find out more about an iconic fashionista whose pieces still retail and grace the catwalks today.

Jávea's population typically trebles over the summer months as tourists from Spain and abroad, and holiday home owners, move in to enjoy the cosmopolitan bustle of this low-rise historical coastal town overlooked by the Montgó mountain nature reserve, over 750 metres up.

Working-class wannabe tailor rises to Marchioness' challenge

Balenciaga was trained as a tailor in Spain, but most of his 30-plus years of working life was spent in Paris, where he was a contemporary of Coco Chanel, Christian Dior and other massive 'wardrobe' names. 

He is considered to be the most famous haute couture fashion designer to come out of Spain, although his origins, as is usually the case, were humble: His mother was a seamstress and his father was a fisherman, who lost his life at sea.

It was largely thanks to the VII Marchioness of Casa Torres – the grandmother of Queen Fabiola of Belgium, Royal Consort between 1960 and 1993 – that the determined youth got his career off the ground: Whilst the Marchioness was on her summer holidays in Guetaria, touched by the young Cristóbal's keenness to learn tailoring, she set him a challenge of replicating one of her most exclusive dresses by giving him this and a scrap of cloth.

She was so pleased with the result that she decided to sponsor him, and between 1918 and 1924, Cristóbal joined the Lizaso sisters and founded the Balenciaga-Lizaso fashion house.

This ended up de-merging due to personal differences, but Balenciaga continued, opening a shop called 'Eisa' – his mother's surname – in San Sebastián, and eventually expanding with shops in Barcelona and Madrid.

His high-profile sponsor meant Balenciaga's creations were sought out and widely worn by the Spanish Royal family and aristocracy, but the outbreak of the Civil War forced him to move his operations to Paris, where he opened his first studio, workshop and store in August 1937.

Stitching for the stars

Dropped shoulders, nipped-in waists and rounded hips were Balenciaga's trademark style, considered ground-breaking and different at the time, and from about 1950, his creations started to inspire other fashion houses and high-street chains – in fact, Coco Chanel herself famously said: “He's the only one of us who is a true couturier.”

Hand-embroidered fabric studded with semi-precious stones and covered in sequins, using heavy cloth, were frequent features of Balenciaga's works, and he created exclusive designs for his best clients – German-born actress Marlene Dietrich said he knew her measurements so well that none of his pieces he made for her ever needed adjusting.

Other high-profile clients on his list included Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, and the multi-millionaire US celebrity Rachel L. Mellon.

Balenciaga also designed the wedding dresses for Queen Fabiola of Belgium and the Duchess of Cádiz, creations which now sit in Guetaria's Balenciaga Museum and Barcelona's Design Museum respectively.

Inspired by the great masters of Spanish art, such as Velázquez and Goya, and also the cubists, Balenciaga stayed clear of the prêt-à-porter market, following Coco Chanel's early convictions – although Mme Chanel later reneged on these, Balenciaga never did; his only step into the world of mass production was one of his last-ever projects, creating the uniform for flight attendants on Air France.

Costa Blanca retreat

He retired from the haute couture world in 1968, but financial problems meant his fashion house in Paris and workshops in Madrid shut down overnight – largely due the industry's becoming less profitable and the French tax régime's swallowing up most of his profits, leading to US customers buying less bespoke clothing; until then, they had made up 70% of Balenciaga's clientèle.

Balenciaga decided to return to Spain, spending the last few years of his life in his house in Altea, Alicante province, where his free time involved painting, and chatting and lunching with some of his Spanish assistants.

The only other commission he took on after returning from France was the bridal gown for Carmen Martínez-Bordiú, granddaughter of dictator General Franco, who married on March 8, 1972 – and, in fact, this was his last-ever work. 

That same month, Balenciaga went on holiday to Jávea, about half an hour up the coast from Altea, and stayed in its famous – and still operating – Parador Nacional.

He was not thought to be ill and had no known health problems, but suddenly suffered a fatal heart attack on March 23, aged 77. 

Balenciaga was buried in his native town of Guetaria.

An '80s revival

Although the Balenciaga house was inactive for the next 14 years, the brand still existed and the rights to it were bought in 1986 from his heirs by the Spanish-based company Jacques Bogart, S.A.

It has continued in operation since, and the working-class tailor turned silver-screen dresser's legacy lives on.

Numerous other top designers did their training at Balenciaga's studios, including another key Spanish fashion creator, Paco Rabanne, Dominican Republican Óscar de la Renta, and the huge French names André Courrèges, Emmanuel Ungaro and Hubert de Givenchy, meaning their own houses' designs will always carry some element, however small, of the Basque fisherman's son who retired to Altea.

For some time now, residents in Jávea have been urging their council to open a museum dedicated to Balenciaga, a project which has never been rejected out of hand, although no firm plans to do so have emerged as yet.

The temporary exhibition will be organised by famous fashion photographer Pedro Usabiaga, who comes from the same province, Guipúzcoa, as Balenciaga himself.