A collection of drawings by legendary couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga, dating back to the 1950s, belonging to Lorenzo Riva, who was artistic director of Balenciaga in Paris in the 1980s. This exceptional collection, curated by Marina Pizziolo and Romano Ravasio, has never been exhibited.
Balenciaga was the first great couturier. An artist who has been able to design a new, iconic woman. “A good fashion designer must be an architect for models, a sculptor for form, a painter for color, a musician for harmony and a philosopher for measurements”, Balenciaga declared in 1968.
Featuring the early concepts of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s now iconic lines and models, the artworks give us an insight into the creative process of Balenciaga himself between 1950 and 1958, as he paved the way for designers such as Oscar de la Renta, André Courrèges, Emanuel Ungaro, Christian Dior, and Hubert de Givenchy.
