About the Book:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

More than three decades after his death, the Spanish couturier Cristobal Balenciaga has become a legendary figure in the history of 20th century fashion. His name still resonates in the world of international fashion as a byword for clothes executed to the highest standards and characterized by their sculptural quality, deft manipulation of textiles, and dramatic use of colour.

His innovative designs were made-to-measure for private clients and sold as prototypes to department stores across the world. He launched these designs at the haute couture shows in Paris from the time of his establishment there in 1937 until his retirement in 1968. Notoriously reclusive and obsessively private, Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972) never gave interviews, but this book by Lesley Ellis Miller examines Balenciaga's design and business practice, placing him firmly in the context of the time and country in which he learnt his trade and the international fashion scene in which he subsequently matured and triumphed.

This book, with breathtaking illustrations, was issued by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to coincide with its Golden Age of Couture exhibition celebrating Balenciaga's achievements.

What people say:

"Balenciaga is fashion's Picasso." — Fashion photographer Sir Cecil Beaton

About the Author:

Lesley Ellis Miller is Senior Curator of Textiles and Fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Professor of Dress and Textile History at the University of Glasgow. She is a specialist in eighteenth-century European fashion and textiles, on which she has published extensively.