Mary Blume
A sparkling life of the monumental fashion designer CristÃ³bal Balenciaga,When CristÃ³bal Balenciaga died in 1972, the news hit the front page of The New York Times. One of the most innovative and admired figures in the history of haute couture, Balenciaga was, said Schiaparelli, â€œthe only designer who dares do what he likes.â€ He was, said Christian Dior,â€œthe master of us all.â€, ,But despite his extraordinary impact, Balenciaga was a man hidden from view. Unlike todayâ€™s celebrity designers, he saw to it that little was known about him, to the point that some French journalists wondered if he existed at all. Even his most notable and devoted clientsâ€”Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Hutton, a clutch of Rothschildsâ€”never met him., ,But one woman knew Balenciaga very well indeed. The first person he hired when he opened his Paris house (then furnished with only a table and a stool) was Florette Chelot, who became his top vendeuseâ€”as much an adviser as a saleswoman. She witnessed the spectacular success of his first collection, and they worked closely for more than thirty years, until 1968, when Balenciaga abruptly closed his house without telling any of his staff. Youth-oriented fashion was taking over, Paris was in upheaval, and the elder statesman wanted no part of it., ,In The Master of Us All , Mary Blume tells the remarkable story of the man and his house through the eyes of the woman who knew him best. Intimate and revealing, this is an unprecedented portrait of a designer whose vision transformed an industry but whose story has never been told until now.
Couture,Fashion,Biography,Nonfiction,Art,History,Cultural,Spain,Cultural,France
The Master of Us All