Cristóbal Balenciaga opened his Paris couture house on Avenue Georges V in 1937, having established his reputation in Spain with clients including the Spanish royal family. The matador costume, the flamenco dress and the paintings of Velázquez were among his primary references, visible in his approach to silhouette and volume. As a technician he was without equal among his contemporaries, developing Balenciaga's sculptural forms that departed entirely from the body-following conventions of the era: the sack dress, the balloon jacket and the cocoon coat. Coco Chanel called him the only true couturier. The house closed in 1968 and reopened in 1986. Nicolas Ghesquière took the helm in 1997, and his fifteen-year tenure restored the house to the centre of contemporary fashion.
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