By Bill Zeeble, KERA reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-565966.mp3
Dallas, TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter:
Cristobal Balenciaga was born a hundred-two years ago in Spain's Basque region. By age 13, he was already working with fabric and thread, fascinated by clothing design, & obsessed with hard work as he helped his mother, a seamstress. He learned tricks of the fashion trade the expensive way, purchasing originals by the likes of Coco Chanel, then methodically undoing them. This deconstruction was essentially the act of an architect, says Lawrence Marcus, who worked for the Neiman Marcus store co-founded by his father. He says Balenciaga's designs made ANY woman look good because he was an artist who sculpted with fabric.
Lawrence Marcus, retired Neiman Marcus executive: It's so obvious that he was able to have the body as a general form he had to deal with. He seemed to take the body as a general direction of something he had to clothe or cover and he did it, usually with fabrics with a certain degree of stiffness or crispness. So the end result created sort of a cage in which the body operated. It's amazing it still could be dainty. Sort of mystery as to how he did that.
Zeeble; Balencia's designs of simple, elegant lines, few seams and exquisite, often beaded fabrics not only wowed his peers like Givenchy, de la Renta and Dior, he was 5 years ahead of everyone else, according to guest curator Myra Walker, who oversees the Texas Fashion Collection at the University of North Texas. His influence, like Picasso's, she adds, was enormous in this rareified world, for one reason.
Walker: No, he is THE genius of the 20th cent, absolutely.Just because someone is prolific turning out a hundred paintings a week doesn't mean they're any good.
Zeeble: At his post-war peak, Balenciaga designed 300 items a year between his Fall and Spring collections. He worked with heavy, colorful silks, fine textured wools, even ermine tails in one gown on display here, that still takes curator Walker's breath away. It's black velvet, flat in front, and full in back with a semi bustle and train with the white ermine. Walker says he was a perfectionist obsessed with everything.
Myra Walker, exhibition curator: Every detail, every seam, cut, every detail. Every kind of fabric used was the best of anything available in the world. He got the first selection of it. He commanded it, may be a better word than demand. He commanded it.
Zeeble: Seventy or so of these gowns, suits, dresses and even hats are on display in several rooms of the Meadows Museum. They came from 2 Texas women, the late Claudia de Osborne and Bert de Winter who bought & wore Balenciaga's designs in the 50s and 60s, then donated them to UNT's collection. Mark Roglan, the Spanish born director of the Meadows, calls Balenciaga a 20th century fashion master who deserves this museum showing.
Mark Roglan, director, Meadows Museum: The same way a painter needs canvas and oil, a designer needs a human body and cloth to make magic happen. He's very sculptural.
Zeeble: And borrows designs from his culture, says Roglan, from the strong use of black to his many beaded items. The show Balenciaga and His Legacy remains at SMU's Meadows Museum through May 27th. For KERA 90.1 I'm Bill Zeeble.
Bzeeble@Kera.Org