Stitches, topstitching, basting, embroidery. In praise of subtlety, exquisiteness, detail, symmetry. The gaze on the beauty of the imperceptible, in the hand that creates the work of art. It will not be The time between the seamsbut it is similar: a dramatic Spanish series about the delicate and at the same time brutal universe of fashion.
Cristobal Balenciaga (Star+), the biographical fiction about the legendary designer and founder of the eponymous brand, invites the game of perfection and obsession, that trap from which one cannot escape unscathed. It is understood as an oasis of elegance, with impeccable designs and fascinating photographsbut it does not go beyond the manual of meticulousness and ends up being a risk-free product.
Son of a fisherman and a seamstress, the Spanish Cristóbal (in a great performance by Alberto San Juan), goes to Paris, the center of high fashion, to develop the business in which he will become a master. He will have meetings and disagreements with Coco Chanel, the woman who will influence the direction of his pulse.
The resource for telling in two stages is supported by a journalistic interview, that of the prestigious British Prudence Glynn (Gemma Whelan), which convinced him at the end of his life to review his biography. The hermetic Balenciaga initially refuses to have his voice recorded, but then accepts and lets himself go. The stylist’s fixation for perfection is such that he is capable of tearing off the journalist’s “crooked” sleeve to re-tie it harmoniously.
The escape from the Spanish Civil War, the slow rise, the muses, the first collection at Casa Balenciaga and the consecration are intertwined with that private side that Balenciaga has always protected, that of his partner Wladzio D’Attainville, hatter and partner (Thomas Coumans ). He also focuses on the difficulties during the Nazi occupation and the big question of many: Balenciaga’s collaboration or survival instinct in the face of Nazism?
Beyond the narrative curve from the beginning of a dream to its realization and retirement, in the six episodes you can enjoy the detail, the austerity of the head as a flag and the smallness that builds that universe of genres that fluctuate and shape the bodies.
The flirtations with Givenchy, the competition with Dior, the “dagger” of the beloved Chanel, the decline in front of the powerful Yves Saint Laurent… Names and myths intersect. No fashion lover should overlook this narrative that documents the evolution and extinction of a way of dressing and living.
Cristóbal Balenciaga’s partners.A wasteland of sophistication and beauty in just over four hours, as we rethink the concept of haute couture applied to the service of the ruling classes.
With excellent period recreation, the story is strengthened that idea of a man under a shell, enigmatic and born to please a certain layer. Perhaps it is an objective of the screenwriters, or perhaps a flaw: Cristóbal, the king of discipline, seems like a distant character, sometimes lacking emotional depth.
The gentleman that Chanel defined as a true dressmaker (“we are just stylists”), the same one who resisted the “vulgarization of the world” left us in 1972 without imagining what that brand founded in 1919 could become. He disappeared from the market according to his own law, a prisoner of his vision: if haute couture had died under the clutches of ready-to-wear, there would have been nothing left for him to do..
The man who dressed the most delicate ladies.The emergence of the illegal copy market, the reign of polyester and mass production destroyed a universe, but could not handle a poetic idea: “The air between the body and the dress.” Balenciaga was unable to adapt to a new paradigm and, however, it did not become extinct, it was resurrected as a concept. This story does it justice.
File
Qualification: Well
Type: Drama. Direction and creation: Jon Garaño, Aitor Arregi and others. Protagonists: Alberto San Juan, Josean Bengoetxea, Thomas Coumans. Problem: 6 episodes on Star+
Source: Clarin
