Coco Islands

• His dedication to the craft of dressmaking and tailoring was fostered by his seamstress mother and acknowledged by local Spanish aristocracy who recognised his talents.
• A marquesa’s patronage led to a tailoring apprenticeship in San Sebastián, where he opened his first dressmaking business in 1919 at the age of 24, and later an atelier in Madrid.

• Balenciaga’s life and work are currently being explored in a six-part Spanish biographical drama on Disney+.
• The new Disney series stars Alberto San Juan as Balenciaga and is structured around the designer recalling the events of his life and career during a rare interview in 1971 with the Times’ fashion editor Prudence Glynn (Gemma Whelan).

Fashion for a post-war world

• In episode two – The Occupation – when Balenciaga’s nervous investor visits Chanel to ask if the designer can succeed in Parisian high fashion, her famous response is resounding: “Cristóbal is the only authentic couturier amongst us.
• The rest, we are simply just fashion designers.” The series follows the turbulent political and economic times for fashion in the mid-20th century.
• Meanwhile, artisanal couture traditions of fashion design had to contend with the rise and expansion of the mass manufacturing of prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) fashion.
• The emerging prêt-à-porter designers, many of whom he mentored, carried his design principles into their luxury mass-manufactured clothing lines, including Givenchy, André Courrèges and Emanuel Ungaro.

Industry and passion

• Balenciaga’s magic is grounded in driven, tireless dedication to an art form.
• Everywhere we see hands, tools, textiles manipulated, cut, folded, sewn, adjusted, and eventually formed on a body ready to be seen and, ultimately, sold.
• However, he states: “It wasn’t just a business, it was part of me, like an extension of my body.

• An important character throughout the series is Carmel Snow (Gabrielle Lazure), the fashion chief of the American edition of the highly influential lifestyle magazine Harper’s Bazaar.
• This series is testament that designing, making and promoting dress will always involve passion and drama.

Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
Elizabeth Kealy-Morris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.