As Hattie Carnegie's designs (last night's post) are super elegant (when talking about 1950's fashion, 'elegant' is the obvious choice of word), they are rather conservative. They represent the ideal of the elegant woman - an elegant American woman in 1950's in particular. However, the image of the beautiful female body is related to time and culture.
Spanish (Basque) born designer Cristóbal Balenciaga was a celebrated designer soon after he opened his fashion house in Paris in 1937 and he remained a superstar of fashion until his death in 1972. His designs were always innovative and original, but his most remarkable contributions for fashion came after the World War II. As The Dior's New look squeezed the female body back to exaggeratedly feminine, bee-waisted form, Balenciaga responded with more linear and loose silhouette.
These designs take my breath away. I think their sense of elegance and sophistication are beyond fashion trends, even today some of them look contemporary. Especially I like these wide shouldered coats. I think they correspond more to the ideas about the female body today.
I think these designs prove that elegance and femininity are conceptual. It so much more than only emphasizing feminine body parts or dressing up to appear pretty. Balenciaga's influence on in fashion is tremendous. His work seems to reflect the change of female body image especially in the post-war time period; his 1960's designs even anticipate the coming of the mini dress.
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| 1950 |
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| 1950 |
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| 1950 |
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| 1954 |
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| 1967 |
1967
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| 1951 |
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| 1964 |
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| 1967 |
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| 1968 |
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| 1963 |
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| 1946 |
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| 1952 |
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| 1958 |
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| 1950 |
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