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 Pierre
Balmain, the founder of the most famous Fashion House, was born on May 19, 1914 in the small town St.
Jean de Maurienne in the Savoy Mountains of France. His family owned a wholesale drapery business that
was directly associated with the fashion industry: his father was a wholesale
merchant of fabric, his aunts owned boutiques and his mother was a professional
consultant on styles in fashion.
Balmain's
father died when he was only 7 years old and a little boy was cared by his
mother and aunts. His happiest childhood memories were of playing in the shop
where his mother and aunts made dresses. He played with the fabrics and admired
the wonderful masterships of seamstresses.
His mother
put high hopes that little Pierre would get a fame as military surgeon but he
was only dreaming of sewing. At the particular time Pierre decided to go to
Paris and study designing. But he did not dare to inform his beloved mother on
his decision. And Pierre did what many people do in such cases - he lied to
her. Hitherto, his mother was assured that he would go to become an architect
after his study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. And Pierre left for the
magnificent capital of France in 1934. Later on he showed excellent progress in
his study.
The
promising young designer was noticed and invited as an artist assistant at
Molyneux. In the meantime, he quitted the idea to study architecture.
In 1936 Balmain
was recruited to serve in the army. After two years of military service he returned
back home but to that time he was forgotten at the Molyneux; he had no
perspectives at that moment, nevertheless he did not intend to return back to
his mother. And as a fortune, he received an invitation just when he decided to
quit everything in a great despair. In 1939 Balmain joined Lucien Lelong. Then
the war broke out and it became very dangerous to stay in the capital, and
Pierre returned to Aix-lens-Bains and assisted his mother in her new clothing
store.
Lucien Lelong
opened his Haute Couture House in 1941 and invited Balmain again to Paris
promising the moon. And Pierre actually succeeded altogether with the other
talented designer Christian Dior exchanging ideas and supplementing
each other in fashion designing. And this is so much a case that sometimes it
was impossible to identify who was the author of a particular model. They even
discussed of opening a co-joint fashion house but it never happened.
And Balmain
opened his Haute Couture house in the autumn of 1945 on the Rue Francois 1er in
Paris. The same year on October 14th, he exhibited his first small collection
mainly presenting pantsuits. He presented jackets from woolsey, new cut kimonos,
evening wears, tight evening gowns from taffet, de luxe ball dresses trimmed
with false berries and leaves, silver embroidery and rhinestones. It was only his
first collection and it caused to recollect pure luxury so hopelessly forgotten
as it would seem in the war time.
The periods
of hard war time, pain and losses changed women. From infantile dollies they turned
into confident, independent, emancipated and often tough partners in the war
time. Female nature was «effectively» forgotten, the skill to look beautiful
and dress up was not of high value any longer. The credit of all famous couturier of post-war
period is a new type of female - not weak, but neither strong, a Woman from the
capital letter who is up to anything including a big love, big sacrifices, and
a hard work. A woman whose personality was
not hidden behind a dress, however she couldn't do without dresses.
Balmain
presented to public a new style that would be popular and in success over the
period of 50s, and which would be named by the American author Gertrude Stein,
a close friend of Balmain's, as the «New French Style» in her writing.
It is
typical for Balmain to employ some features in his work that brightly distinguish
his style:
- embroidery
in gold, bronze and pearls. Silky fibers of the very delicate shades of gray, icy-blue,
striking mastership and very often works wholly handcrafted;
- furs, especially
fur clothing items like mink belt, fur braces, boas and muffs. And all this luxury
is incredibly mixed with satin, silk and taffeta;
- pastel delicate
shades, and more often rose-lilac or maize yellow and sometimes tenderly almond.
Rather strict
and almost classic style of the fashion designer and eccentric life style. Being
a real party person Balmain adored parties and never missed one. Yet, his passion
to architecture was shown in another way - collecting houses that he possessed
abundantly and that he loved with an equal passion. Elba Island is probably the
most extravagant dwelling that he redeemed from Thailand and reshaped to be
dear to his taste.
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