An investigative study to style reading: The style of Cristobal Balenciaga interpreted by contemporary fashion designers

Abstract

Aim: Historical fashions are re-created repeatedly and put into the new fashion cycle. It is a constant activity. Haute couture or high-end designers’ masterpieces are subjected to study by many contemporary fashion designers as a granary of design concepts. Cristobal Balenciaga (1895- 1972), also known as the king of haute couture, has made many revolutionary fashions in his design career. The combination of his technical brilliance and aesthetic taste gifted many extraordinary innovations to the fashion world. His works remain undying and more influential to every designer in the fashion industry. The study aims to identify characteristics of Balenciaga’s designs and investigate the contemporary interpretations of them, analyzing Greth Pugh (1981) and Demna Gvasalia (1981); the contemporary fashion designers .Methodology: The research is a qualitative approach. This research is carried out by investigating masterpieces of the designers, the scholar’s works, photographs, fashion, museum websites and web articles, books, video documentaries as well as informative videos from the YouTube channels such as Met and V&A and a few runway shows have watched (Balenciaga Fall winter 16, Gareth Pugh A/W 17) to get more understanding about the contemporary designers’ work. Relevant information is gathered and analyzed systematically and observed to filter the relevant data for the research.Findings: When comparing the works of these 1950’s Master and contemporary designers, it is visible that the foundation of the contemporaries has developed and established with Cristobal Balenciaga’s ideology. It was found that the selected designers have taken direct inspiration from master Balenciaga. The ideation of Cristobal Balenciaga’s masterpieces has become the roots of these two contemporary designers’ works, and they have rejuvenated these ideologies according to modern times by combining the new technologies and concepts. However, the superiority of Balenciaga remains the same.Implications/Novel Contribution: This research links and changes between Cristobal Balenciaga and contemporary designers have analyzed to conclude different perceptions of how the same style can be reinterpreted over time.