Coat

Cristobal Balenciaga|House of Balenciaga

1968 · wool · Costume Institute

Balenciaga was a designer of some conservatism, closing down his business the same year he made this coat, in part in protest against the debased taste and vulgarity of the time. His last collections are characterized by intensity of color and form. In this, the fashion designer’s equivalent to “The Whiteness of the Whale,” Balenciaga made a colorfield painting, or even a shaped canvas, with the purity of white or cream.

Artist

Cristobal Balenciaga|House of Balenciaga

Date

1968

Medium

wool

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. William Woodward Jr., 1973