Portrait of a Hero – Style

“Kommersant Style” is about a new series dedicated to the king of couture.

The Spanish “Cristobal Balenciaga” is a beautiful six-part film that tells the story of the iconic fashion designer. Balenciaga was born in the Basque region of Spain in 1895 and left the country where he dressed the Spanish elite and aristocracy in Madrid and San Sebastian because of the civil war, and he had to essentially start all over again.

The story begins with Coco Chanel’s funeral in 1971 and editor Prudence Glynn of The Times’ attempts to interview Balenciaga. He agrees with difficulty and their conversation becomes the outline, the way he remembers his life year after year, and we follow the development of events in these 30 years since his move to France.

Upon arrival in Paris in 1937, everything was not very rosy for the fashion designer. A man who had already created high fashion and had long been established in the profession was forced to start over – the capital of world fashion did not welcome him with open arms, forcing him to doubt himself and his talents. The standards then were Chanel, Schiaparelli, Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, each in their own way.

The story of a talented couturier, who has been creating clothes since the age of 12, is shown very carefully and touchingly: for lovers of beautiful, well-calibrated shots, luxurious interiors, well-designed lighting (and all this with the perfect musical accompaniment), this series will be a good outlet. The roles were played by Spanish actors known only to film buffs: Alberto San Juan, Belen Cuesta, Josean Bengoechea. “Unhackneyed” faces, thoughtful pictures and accurate stylization of the era – this biopic is doomed to success, despite not the highest ratings from critics. In the case of Balenciaga, you definitely don’t need to listen to them.

It’s worth spending your time on this atmospheric movie: it accurately recreates 22 exquisite couture looks by Cristobal Balenciaga, showing the underbelly of the fashion industry. We also see the beginning of “pret-a-porter”, which was, in fact, one of the reasons that Balenciaga retired – he was used to controlling the entire process of creating clothes from start to finish, and mass production seemed simply unthinkable to him. A striking scene with Air France flight attendants, whom he contracted to create uniforms, is typical: all 1,700 girls stood in line for the master to personally fit the suits onto their figures – he did not agree to anything less. Until the end of his life, he remains a perfectionist – a man who will notice a crooked sleeve from afar; those who cannot continue a conversation until he corrects the shortcomings of his counterpart’s jacket; he’s the one who literally chases people down the street to invite them into his atelier so the seamstresses can iron Balenciaga coats—and it’s this insatiable need for control that hastens the end of his empire.

Cristobal Balenciaga would eventually become one of the most important designers of all time: the couturier, his contemporaries and competitors, recognized his uniqueness and greatness. And while they became celebrities, he remained a ghost, a man who did not star in glossy magazines, did not give interviews, and whom no one recognized on the street even at the peak of his fame. This series is a detailed portrait of the “prickly” fashion hero, whom Chanel called “a couturier in the truest sense of the word. The rest are just fashion designers.” Enjoy.

Irina Kiriyenko