Left to right:

Christobal Balenciaga, Spanish, 1895-1972

Theatre Suit (Jacket and Skirt), Winter 1945, No. 118

Silk faille, silk velvet and sequins

Embroidery by Bataille

Gift of Elizabeth Arden     1968.c.341.A-B

Christobal Balenciaga, Spanish, 1895-1972

Cocktail Suit (Jacket and Skirt), Spring 1950, No. 92

Seckers silk damask

Gift of Mrs. Sybil Harrington     1968.c.506.A-B

Christobal Balenciaga, Spanish, 1895-1972

Cocktail dress, Spring 1950, No. 44

Staron printed silk taffeta

Gift of Mrs. Sybil Harrington     1968.c.439.A-B

Balenciaga's designs are so easily datable to a particular era because they were designs so instrumental in determining the styles of the time. In addition, dresses so aware of the powerful sex appeal of the feminine body are always destined to reflect a time and a society.  At the 1973 opening of the "World of Balenciaga" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Exhibition Consultant Diana Vreeland remarked to New York Times fashion writer Bernadine Morris, "People would tell me fashion started in the streets and I would say I always saw it first at Balenciaga." Morris' review was accompanied by three photographs of the gala opening. One of these, depicting a woman wearing the same dress as a mannequin in the exhibition, is captioned, "I like mine better." And, in fact, Balenciaga's clothing was so attuned to making women look and feel good that her dress perfectly fit her body in a way that it could never fit the abstracted form of the mannequin. 

The clothes here are shown on the type of dressmaker's form that would have been employed in Balenciaga's couture workrooms. All made for two important patrons of the Fashion Design collection, Miss Elizabeth Arden and Mrs. Sybil Harrington, they are part of a core collection of couture garments that the two donated in the early years when the department was taking shape.

Arden was a driven entrepreneur in the newly developing beauty-products industry during the early twentieth century. Her products, salons, and resorts made her one of the richest women in the nation's history. By the time she wore this theater suit in 1945, Arden had become a brilliant and famous hostess and socialite. The fitted waist and square shoulders of the suit must have suited its diminutive yet extraordinarily powerful wearer.

The flow and volume of draped fabric in Balenciaga's "balloon' dresses from the fall/winter 1950 collection made for ever-changing patterns in the folds of fabric. Balenciaga used this voluptuous, spherical shape for skirts, sleeves, cuffs, and capes throughout his career. By 1951 he was at the forefront of French design. His strict attention to the details of cut and proportion, which were individually adapted to each client, gained the confidence of an international roster of distinguished women. In 1958 the designer said, "The silhouette is only important if it makes a dress elegant for a woman—nothing else counts."

All the other clothing here belonged to Mrs. Sybil Harrington and was part of an order of nine dresses and suits made for her by Balenciaga in 1950. That Mrs. Harrington applied her elegant taste to every aspect of her life—food, clothes, art, and home—is amply evident in these selections. A very sociable woman with a great love for the theater and opera and a good sense of humor, she may have inspired to choose these particular garments by her love of theatrical history. The bustled reference in the printed polka dot dress and the 1880s style draped swag of the evening dress are evidence of a kindred interest in art and history shared by Balenciaga and Harrington.

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