Look 48 from the house’s 51st couture collection – a spikey faux feather embroidered dress in silk organza – ruffles the archive into a striking extremity of grandeur. It is a legacy that persists in artistic director Demna’s hands. In this period, Balenciaga’s research led him towards a deconstruction of traditional forms and the elaboration of increasingly abstract figures. ![]() In the middle of the show is an expertly placed jolt of uncanny beauty: a 1967 bias-cut silk gazar, four-pointed envelope dress with embroidered rhinestones and pearlescent beaded straps, which has been trimmed and hemmed with crin mesh ribbon. Taffeta radiates in black too the gowns take on an even more operatic gesture. In black, even the knot of a bow in silk crepe satin appears to say more – it becomes crisper, more defined, more urgently tied. Partly finished toiles are studded with silver pins and handwritten notes in chalk. Laid flat in glass vitrines, black cotton pattern pieces with geometric coloured threads running through them evoke maps of star constellations. Numbers are jotted next to X’s and sharp dashes become shorthand for lapels and hems and cuffs. Photography: Mike BinkĮarly designs, pencil sketched on graph paper, look like mathematical equations. ‘ Balenciaga in Black’ at Kunstmuseum Den Haag. Balenciaga in Black at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague With its arched angles and shadows, it echoes Balenciaga’s sinuous clothes. Curiously, just outside of the entrance to the show, Henry Moore’s abstract bronze Working Model for Knife Edge Two Piece from 1962 rests on a waist-high plinth informed by the shape and lightness of a bone fragment. In clear, mathematical terms, the show displays 65 haute couture pieces and a few toiles from the 1930s-60s, 57 photographs, sketches and drawings, six hats and five necklaces that are set across 15 rooms. The exhibition ‘ Balenciaga in Black’ – open until 5 March 2023 – explores the late couturier’s reverence for the hue. ![]() Despite their various disciplines, Balenciaga, Berlage and Mondrian were united in their passion for clarity and grace. Realised in the 1930s by Hendrik Petrus Berlage, today the museum holds the biggest Mondrian archive in the world as well as an impressive dress collection. The Kunstmuseum Den Haag is a fitting place for the first and largest ever showing in the Netherlands of the work of fashion’s most revered modernist, Cristóbal Balenciaga.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |