‘Fashion isn’t what it used to be,” a journalist purrs at a couturier outside the funeral of Coco Chanel in the opening minutes of Disney+’s latest biographical series. And in the case of the couturier in question, Cristóbal Balenciaga, it really isn’t.
Balenciaga was one of the most ingenious and influential figures in fashion, whom Chanel called “a couturier in the truest sense of the word. The others are simply fashion designers.” He had a devotion to craft that led him to be regarded as “The Master” of fashion, despite operating in the tumultuous mid-century. Fast forward to today, however, and things sure ain’t what they used to be, with the name once synonymous with exquisite detail now most frequently seen plastered on the side of plasticky trainers or emblazoned across the oversized jumpers of reality television stars. As the programme shows, Balenciaga was always an artist at the forefront of what design could be but, from Simpsons-based campaigns, bondage teddy bears , £1,350 leather trash bags and towels worn as skirts it does seem that the subject of this series might be horrified by what his name has come to represent.
