Episode 9: Balenciaga in Black

Join Art Advisor Jennifer Klos at the Kimbell Art Museum‘s exquisite fashion exhibition “Balenciaga in Black” with Jennifer Casler Price, curator for Asian and non-western, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Often called “the couturier’s couturier,” Balenciaga is the designer most revered by other fashion designers. From his first runway collection in 1937 through the closure of his Paris salon in 1968, Balenciaga had as his clients some of the most influential trendsetters of the day. “Balenciaga in Black” features more than one hundred pieces from the collections of the Palais Galliera, the City of Paris’s museum of fashion, and from the Archives Balenciaga. The carefully selected costumes and accessories, all made by hand in the haute-couture ateliers of this fashion genius, share one major feature: they are all black. Black, because Balenciaga’s sources of inspiration, the spiritual underpinnings of his work, were the folklore and traditions of his native Spain. The exhibition highlights Balenciaga’s artistry in manipulating black fabrics, embroideries, and lace—magically transforming these materials into exquisite garments.

The exhibition is organized by the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, Paris Musées. On view at the Kimbell Art Museum from October 7 through January 6, 2019.

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