Fashion and Heritage. Cristóbal
Fashion and Heritage, a quasi-impossible dialogue pitting the the ephemeral against permanence, whose relevance stems from the current moment, as opposed to receiving value from the past. This conversation flows, however, when the topic at hand is Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Since beginning the curatorial series Fashion and Heritage in 2018, along with the European Cultural Heritage Year, the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum decided to reflect on how Balenciaga's work went from being a fashion of the time to a museum piece.
The series was designed in cumulative fashion, integrating and assimilating previous and current research work, forming a shared chronological discourse and providing a different spotlight in each exhibition, with museography that is edited and revised in each edition. In previous proposals, we conversed with the visual references in Balenciaga's work and contextualised his work process, evolution and legacy.
125 years after Cristóbal Balenciaga's birth, "Fashion and Heritage. Cristóbal," the third and last edition of the curatorial series, seeks to evoke the man "behind the curtain," the name behind the brand, the family member, friend or boss behind the Master of Haute Couture.
Playing with the echos of past exhibitions, we will find, interspersed throughout the chronological journey in this new selection of works, different personal items belonging to Cristóbal Balenciaga. Garments, work instruments, letters, books, decorative items that invite us to ignore the myth and simply imagine Cristóbal.
Curator: Igor Uria
Exhibition Concept: Judith Clark
With the collaboration of Archives Balenciaga, Paris and Centre for Fashion Curation - UAL
Photos:
Inge Morath/Magnum Photos/Contacto
Jon Cazenave
