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Balenciaga SA ( ; ; ) is a Spanish luxury fashion house currently headquartered in Paris. It designs, manufactures and markets ready-to-wear footwear, handbags, and accessories, and licenses its name and branding to the American cosmetics company Coty for its namesake fragrances. Balenciaga is one of the luxury brands owned by the French multinational luxury goods company Kering.
The brand was originally founded in San Sebastián in 1919 by Spanish Haute couture]] Cristóbal Balenciaga. Gianfranco Gianangeli has been CEO of Balenciaga since November 2024. Kering has named Italian designer Pierpaolo Piccioli as the next creative director of Balenciaga, effective July 10, 2025.
Balenciaga opened his Paris couture house on Avenue George V in August 1937, where his first fashion show featured designs heavily influenced by the Spanish Renaissance. His success was nearly immediate. In two years, the press lauded him as a revolutionary, and his designs were highly sought after. Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper's Bazaar, was an early champion of his designs.
Historians believe that Balenciaga's continued activity during the Nazi occupation of Paris was made possible by his connections with Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco who was Adolf Hitler's close ally. The relation to Franco was so close that Balenciaga designed clothing for the Franco family. The company was one of only 60 allowed to operate during the occupation, and the ongoing supply of raw materials from Spain, which were in short supply in Paris due to the war, gave Balenciaga a competitive advantage. However, he testified that he refused Hitler's request to transfer his company's activities to Berlin.
During the post-war years, his lines became more linear and sleek, diverging from the hourglass shape popularized by "Christian Dior's New Look". The fluidity of his silhouettes enabled him to manipulate the relationship between his clothing and women's bodies. In 1951, he transformed the silhouette, broadening the shoulders and removing the waist. In 1955, he designed the tunic dress, which later developed into the chemise dress of 1958. Other contributions in the postwar era included the spherical balloon jacket (1953), the high-waisted baby doll dress (1957), the cocoon coat (1957), the balloon skirt (1957), and the sack dress (1957). In 1959, his work culminated in the Empire line, with high-waisted dresses and coats cut like kimono. His manipulation of the waist, in particular, constituted "what is considered to be his most important contribution to the world of fashion: a new silhouette for women".
In the 1960s, Balenciaga tended toward heavy fabrics, intricate embroidery, and bold materials. His trademarks included "collars that stood away from the collarbone to give a swanlike appearance" and shortened "bracelet" sleeves. His often spare, sculptural creations—including funnel-shape gowns of stiff duchess satin worn to acclaim by clients such as Pauline de Rothschild, Bunny Mellon, Marella Agnelli, Hope Portocarrero, Gloria Guinness, and Mona von Bismarck—were considered masterworks of haute couture in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1960, he designed the wedding dress for Queen Fabiola of Belgium made of ivory duchess satin trimmed with white mink at the collar and the hips. Jackie Kennedy famously upset her husband by buying Balenciaga's expensive creations while John F. Kennedy was president – he apparently feared that the American public might think the purchases too lavish. Her haute couture bills were eventually discreetly paid by her father-in-law, Joseph Kennedy.
In 1967, both designers reversed their decision and joined the traditional schedule.
Cristóbal Balenciaga closed his fashion house in 1968 and died in 1972. The house lay dormant until 1986.
In 2002, Balenciaga's star, Nicolas Ghesquière, admitted to copying the work of Kaisik Wong, a designer from San Francisco who died in 1990. Ghesquiere created a patchwork vest in his spring collection that resembled one that Wong designed in 1973. Ghesquière admitted in an interview in Paris that he had copied the garment.
Ghesquière's F/W 2005 line showed that the house was not only making money, but also attracted a number of celebrity customers including editor-in-chief at Vogue, Anna Wintour.
The House of Balenciaga designed the dresses worn by Jennifer Connelly and Nicole Kidman to the 2006 Academy Awards, as well as the wedding gown Kidman wore when she married Keith Urban. Kylie Minogue also wore a Balenciaga dress for her "Slow" and "Red Blooded Woman" music videos and for her concert tour.
Balenciaga's Fall/Winter 2007 show impressed Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Amy Astley so much that an entire spread in the magazine, titled "Global Studies" and shot in Beijing, was influenced by it. The line included skinny jodhpurs, tight, fitted blazers, beaded embellished scarves, and other multicultural mixes.
Balenciaga is known for creating avant-garde, advanced structural pieces, straddling the edge of fashion and forecasting the future of women's ready-to-wear fashion. Vintage Balenciaga garments are popular among fashion editors, Hollywood stars, and models, and have been seen on Sienna Miller, Lara Bingle, Raquel Zimmermann, Caroline Trentini, Emmanuelle Alt, Tatiana Sorokko, Hilary Rhoda, Jennifer Garner, and Stephanie Seymour, among others. Balenciaga is also frequently worn by actress Chloë Sevigny, who is also a muse of Nicolas Ghesquière.
In June 2011, the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum opened in Getaria, Spain.
In November 2012, Balenciaga announced that it was parting with creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, ending his 15-year tenure. The brand announced Alexander Wang as its new creative director. Wang presented his first collection for the label on 28 February 2013, at Paris Fashion Week. In 2014, the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris set a trial date for the lawsuit between Balenciaga vs. Ghesquière. Balenciaga claimed that Ghesquière's comments in the magazine System had hurt the company's image. The highly publicized suit was mediated out of court.
In July 2015, Balenciaga announced it was parting with creative director Alexander Wang after three years. The Spring/Summer 2016 show was his last, featuring white lounge wear made from soft, natural fabrics. In early October 2015, the brand appointed Demna Gvasalia as its new creative director.
In October 2016, Cédric Charbit was appointed CEO. Formerly the executive vice president of product and marketing at Saint Laurent, Charbit steered Balenciaga in a commercial direction. Under his tenure, the brand experienced significant growth; analysts estimated $2 billion in revenue for 2022.
In 2018, Balenciaga was the subject of a social media backlash in China when personnel at one of Balenciaga's Paris stores assaulted a Chinese tourist.
In, April 2021 Gvasalia presented his new Pre-Fall 2021 collection, as promoted by Vanity Teen magazine. Colección Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2021 April 19, 2021. Vanity Teen. In August 2021, Justin Bieber was announced as the new face of Balenciaga. In September 2021, the brand faced backlash when it released trompe-l'œil sweatpants with the illusion of plaid boxers sticking out the top with a price tag of $1,190.
In May 2022, Balenciaga announced that it accepts crypto payments.
In October 2022 Balenciaga announced that it was severing its ties to Kanye West due to his anti-semitic comments.
In December 2023, Balenciaga was awarded by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) with the prize for best luxury product for its entirely vegan coat made from Lunaform, a plant-based leather.
In May 2024, Balenciaga opened a new flagship store in Tokyo. Later in June, Balenciaga opened its first store in Cancún, Mexico.
In November 2024, Gianfranco Gianangeli was appointed CEO, replacing Cédric Charbit who had led the brand since 2016.
In November 2023, Balenciaga appointed Michelle Yeoh as its brand ambassador.
In December 2023, Balenciaga introduced its new brand ambassador, Nicole Kidman.
In January 2024, Kim Kardashian became the brand ambassador of Balenciaga.
On TikTok, videos of users destroying Balenciaga products made the controversy viral. Among the brand's ambassador, Kim Kardashian expressed disgust and outrage, and Nicole Kidman was criticized for refusing to denounce the campaign. On November 22, Balenciaga removed both campaigns and apologized. For the "Garde-Robe" campaign, Balenciaga announced that it was taking legal action against the production company North Six and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins, claiming that they were responsible for the advertisement with the child pornography court document. In response, the set designer's attorney said that Balenciaga representatives were present at the shoot and handled the papers and props used. Balenciaga dropped their legal action on December 2. Creative director Demna Gvasalia apologized. In March 2023, he stated "I didn't see the creepy part of it. But it's obvious now", "It was … a stupid mistake".
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