Customer Reviews

Balenciaga Paris

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This gigantic book by Pamela Golbin (author of the excellent overview "Fashion Designers") really tells the story of two houses of Balenciaga - the original, helmed by the great Cristobal Balenciaga, and the modern-day couturier. I'm not a huge fan of the 2000's Balenciaga lines, so I won't say much about them here - though, in all truth, this book does cover modern-day Balenciaga quite thoroughly for anyone who's interested.

The real heart of the book for vintage-fashion mavens, however, is the first half of the book, detailing the work of the illustrious Senor Balenciaga. The gentleman was probably the finest designer of the "New Look" era after M. Dior himself, and worked for much longer than Dior did. He excelled particularly, in my own opinion, at lush, silken, flowing gowns, which are copiously - and beautifully - detailed here. It's all here; biographical information, design sketches, behind-the-scenes photographs, catwalk shots. If you've been having trouble finding Marie-Andree Jouve's huge (and very expensive) Balenciaga retrospective, this is a perfect way to satisfy your desires!

If you were to buy just one boon dealing with fashion, make it this book. It's a fabulous volume that goes beyond the typical pictures with hardly any captions or relation to the time period approach. Instead, you get it all: the fantastic images that make you think - oh my, such and such borrowed this idea for this and that collection, over and over again! Plus you learn about the history of this interesting man, his attempts to start his own business, etc. It's like reading a personal journal/album - the most rewarding and lasting pleasure!

A beautiful history of the great Balenciaga. His work was wonderful.

A true artist and a fine gentlemen.

The definitive "encyclopedia" on Snr. Balanciaga. Exhaustive and very fascinating research. The photos are breathtaking. When you start to look around, you see his influence everywhere!

The visionary Balenciaga gave rise to much in fashion that is permanent. His story, talent and work is presented beautifully. The pages fly by as you read. Equally the "new" Balenciaga is explained and may just be as compelling as the original...

This book is good if you are interested in contemporary reviews of Balenciaga shows and information about the house and the designer. But it is not as well illustrated as I might have wished. For fashion retrospective books such as this, I want hundreds of clear color photos of garments! I am not as interested in reading about fashion as I am in looking at it. At the risk of sounding like a kid who can't read, this book has too much text and not enough pictures.

My third book on Balenciaga and what a thrill it is. But if you love his work as much as me, you can never get enough. To my great relief more than half the book is on 'the master' and not the 'new guy'. Nothing nice to say about the new guy, so best not to say anything.....BUT the other....I'm a nut for fashion (lots of the great designers I like) but Balenciaga was inspired by Heaven, I think. I wish I could have been at one of his shows!

As a history of Cristobal Balenciaga, the founder of the original Balenciaga house of haute couture, this volume is quite good in its informative and studied approach to the origins and success of M. Balenciaga. However, as an exhibition catalog it is, in a word, worthless. Nowhere in its 227 pages does it show any of the creations displayed in the Parisian exhibition. All associated with this publication should be ashamed for offering this as an exhibition catalog and should have paid heed to such genuine exhibition catalogs as The Philadelphia Museum of Art's 2003 Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli by Dilys Blum (at this juncture the absolute gold standard for Costume exhibition catalogs) or The Costume Institute's 1996 Christian Dior by Richard Martin and Harold Koda. Ms. Blum accomplishes what Balenciaga is unable to accomplish, the mix of history within the context of a present reality. By this I mean, she offers the reader a detailed, exciting read by supporting her text with specially commissioned photographic examples of the creations actually displayed at her museum during the exhibition. For me, such exhibitions are marvelous, as one is afforded to see just how certain creations have weathered the storm of time, something not afforded in the Balenciaga catalog.

Also, while I grasp the marketing reason behind this particular catalog, it should be pointed-out that Balenciaga, as it exists today, is no longer a house of haute couture, but a resurrected brand of ready-to-wear apparel. Anyone viewing the original creations of M. Balenciaga should be able to see at once, how ill-suited is Nicolas Ghesquière to be passed-off as the torch bearer of Cristobal Balenciaga. It's perfectly horrendous to view page after page of M. Balenciaga's exquisite creations to then be faced with the ugliness of M. Ghesquière's.

Balenciaga is my favourite designer so naturally I had to own this book. I bought it used and would have dished out the money for a new book.

The book is filled with iconic images and sketches from various Balenciaga collections. It reads like a very interesting timeline as it literally starts at the beginning of the house. Regrettably, the book only reaches to the 2007 FW collection. If they ever release an updated version I will be sure to consider it. :)