Balenciaga in Black

This exhibition presents more than one hundred black handmade costumes and accessories by fashion genius Cristóbal Balenciaga.

Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972) is often called “the couturier’s couturier” —the fashion designer revered by all other fashion designers. Since his first runway collection in 1937 until the closure of his Paris salon in 1968, Balenciaga’s clients were among the most influential trendsetters of the day. This fall, the Kimbell Art Museum partners with the Palais Galliera, the distinguished fashion museum in Paris, to present Balenciaga in Black, an exhibition of more than one hundred pieces from the collections of the Galliera and the archives of the Maison 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. For Balenciaga, black was vibrant, capable of exhibiting a dazzling interplay of light through luxurious fabrics and materials. This exhibition reveals the masterful shapes created by the artist with apparently simple cuts and impeccably composed adornments of lace, embroidery, silk, fringes, beads, and sequins. These expertly executed, timeless silhouettes continue to inspire modern fashion.