SCAD Museum of Fashion opens exhibition about Cristóbal Balenciaga

The Fash Museum of Fashion and Film at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) recently opened an exhibition featuring the work of Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre, the founder of luxury fashion house Balenciaga.

The exhibition, entitled ‘Cristóbal Balenciaga: Master of Tailoring’ features more than 30 of the designer’s garments, illustrations and photographs that have been rarely seen by the public, especially in the US.

It features pieces from the Balenciaga Archives from the late 1940s to 1968 and has been curated exclusively for SCAD Fash and is organised by Rafael Gomes, creative director of SCAD FASH museums.

Some of the pieces on display at the museum were pulled from the archive of the late designer Azzedine Alaïa which featured over 500 preserved Balenciaga looks. The exhibition also includes illustrations and photographs from the Balenciaga archives selected by Gaspard Demasse, head of Balenciaga Heritage, and one-of-a-kind sketches and original atelier communications from Parodi Costume Collection.

The garments showcased range from daywear to evening gown silhouettes worn by celebrities of the era such as Elizabeth Taylor and Delores del Rio, illustrating Balenciaga’s experimentation with form and highlighting “his mastery of tailoring and inventive approach to fashion design,” the release sent out by SCAD reads.

In the exhibition, the US institution portrays a breadth of haute couture designs, from the perspectives of both the couturier and the client. It examines the designer’s experimentation with

Gaël Mamine, head of collections of Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, in collaboration with Gaspard de Massé, head of archives at Balenciaga, and Gonzalo Parodi, director of Parodi Costume Collection have curated the exhibition.

Cristóbal Balenciaga: Master of Tailoring runs until June 2, 2024 at the SCAD Fash Fashion and Film Museum in Atlanta, Georgia.