Page 43 - HOSPES DREAMS Summer

6
4
3 Twilled dark-blue wool coat. Rachel L. Mellon visited him when she accompanied Jackie Kennedy to offer her condolences to Martin Luther King’s widow.
4 Balenciaga’s workshop in San Sebastián during the 50’s.
8
43
1 Dress and coat.
2 Dressmakers.
5
7
5 Photo of Rachel L. Mellon, reading one of her botany books (1982).
6 Cristóbal Balenciaga in 1937.
7 Façade of the boutique located in 10 Avenue George V (Paris).
8 Night gown composed by an organza silk tailored top and a black pleated skirt.
is year marks the centennial anniversary of a remarkable event in the history of haute-couture: a hundred years ago, the Spanish desginer Cristóbal Balenciaga opened his rst dressmaking shop. He was only 22, and he decided to open it in San Sebastián. Two decades a er, he moved to Paris, where he became one of the masters of international fashion. In order to celebrate this triumph, the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum has organised an exhibition dedicated to the Rachel L. Mellon Collection. Designer Hubert de Givenchy himslef, who used to be Balenciaga’s pupil and is the current Founder and President of the museum is in charge of the management and supervision of the exhibition.
Rachel L. Mellon was a member of the high society of the time, and a loyal customer of Balenciaga, with whom she developed a close friendship that lasted many years. e result of that friendship is one of the biggest private collections by the Vasque designer.
Another particular aspect about Rachel L. Mellon’s clothes are the diverse documents that she kept, from the letters that they exchanged to the original sketches of the dresses, tissue samples, and bills, which make this exhibition even more interestig, since it shows the most unknown side of fashion. 150 garments have been selected among more than 600 elements that Mellon herself donated to the museum, along with the foundation created by her family. ey had never been exhibited before. is exhibition also says a lot about
the period of history in which Mellon lived, since she was friends with the Kennedys, and she was even invited by the British royal family. www.cristobalbalenciagamuseoa.com