Cristóbal Balenciaga

Cristóbal Balenciaga (born January 21, 1895, Guetaria, Spain—died March 23, 1972, Valencia) was a Spanish dress designer who created elegant ball gowns and other classic designs.

Balenciaga began seriously studying dressmaking at the age of 10, when the death of his father, a sea captain, made it necessary for his mother to support the family by sewing. His first trip to Paris at 15 inspired him to become a couturier, and by age 20 he had his own dressmaking establishment at the fashionable summer resort of San Sebastián in Spain.

In the next 15 years Balenciaga became the leading couturier of Spain. In 1937, when the Spanish Civil War disrupted his business, he moved to Paris. For the next 30 years his collections featured sumptuously elegant dresses and suits. Balenciaga helped popularize the trend toward capes and flowing clothes without waistlines in the late 1950s and the use of plastic for rainwear in the mid-1960s. In 1968 the house of Balenciaga closed, and he retired.

The Balenciaga label was relaunched in 1986 and was subsequently led by a series of creative directors, notably Nicolas Ghesquière (1997–2012) and Demna Gvasalia (2015– ). In 2001 the company was purchased by Kering, a luxury goods company that also owns such fashion houses as Gucci and Alexander McQueen.