The fashion of Balenciaga returns to Xàbia this summer

Tuesday 7th June 2022 – Mike Smith
Source: press release – Ajuntament de Xàbia

Half a century after his death, the fashion of Cristobal Balenciaga will return to the last place his eyes saw. Xàbia town hall is dedicating an important cultural program to the most international master of haute couture this summer, who died while spending one of his usual relaxing stays in the municipality.

The main feature will be a monographic exhibition that will cover his origins, years of splendor and the legacy he left in fashion, which is still alive and well today. The exhibition, curated by Pedro Usabiaga, will take over the exhibition halls of the Soler Blasco Municipal Museum, the Centre d’Arts Lambert and the Casa del Cable from July 1st to September 30th, reliving times and lifestyles that are now extinct: the golden years of haute couture. There will be cocktail dresses, afternoon and evening pieces, as well as two wedding dresses, coats, hats and accessories. Most of them on loan from private collections, little known and not usually seen in museums.

The “Century of Balenciaga” also delves into the artist’s personal side, paying special attention to his relationship with Xàbia, a Mediterranean corner that was like a balm for his bones and his nerves.

Quico Moragues, the municipal councillor responsible for Culture, explained the rest of the schedule that will round off this tribute. On July 2nd, there will be a day at the Parador Nacional in which different voices linked to the world of fashion will address the figure of Balenciaga from Pedro Usabiaga to Amalia Descalzo, Mariu Emilias, Javier Martín and Ramón Tabares Ozcariz, Lola Gavarrón or the well-known designer Lorenzo Caprile.
The day includes a round table and debate moderated by Lydia García in which Pedro Usabiaga, Mariu Emilas, Ramón Tabares Ozcariz, Elena Iribarren and Miguel Carmona (who was the Balenciaga driver during his stays in Xàbia) will participate.

Other appointments in the schedule include the screening on July 14th at the Cine Jayan of the film “El Hilo Invisible“, a conference on the designer at Jessica Bataille’s studio (August 5th) and the concert “El Sonido de las Dos Orillas” with music from the Basque and Mediterranean coasts performed by the soprano Teresa Albero and the pianist Jesús Gómez.

Mayor José Chulvi has been excited about this cultural and recognition project, which follows in the wake of last year’s tribute to the artist Joaquín Sorolla, and links Xàbia with extraordinary people who once chose it as a source of inspiration. The mayor indicated that the proposal, which began to be worked on during the pandemic, has been growing until it is a large-scale and very high-level program.

Chulvi thanked the Parador and the Jessica Bataille Studio for their collaboration in programming and invited the entire population to attend both the exhibition and the parallel activities and discover the ins and outs of the world of haute couture.