Famed for his exquisite craftmanship and innovative designs, Spanish

couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga was known as 'The Master' of haute

Haute couture is like an orchestra whose conductor is Balenciaga. We other couturiers are the
musicians and we follow the direction he gives.
Christian Dior

Balenciaga alone is a couturier in the truest sense of the word. Only he is capable of cutting
material, assembling a creation and sewing it by hand, the others are simply fashion designers.
Coco Chanel

Cristóbal Balenciaga, the father of Contemporary fashion, is dead, but his influence remains.
Women's Wear Daily, March 1972
Meet 'The Master'

Born in 1895 in Getaria, a small fishing village in the Basque region of northern Spain, Cristóbal
Balenciaga was introduced to fashion by his mother, who was a seamstress. Her clients included the
most fashionable and glamorous women in the village. Aged just twelve, he began an apprenticeship
at a tailor's in the neighbouring fashionable resort of San Sebastian, where in 1917 he established his
first fashion house, named Eisa – a shortening of his mother's maiden name.

Balenciaga opened fashion houses in Barcelona and Madrid before moving to Paris in 1937. The
house on Avenue Georges V quickly became the city's most expensive and exclusive couturier. His
early training set him apart from other couturiers of the time. He knew his craft inside out and was
adept at every stage of the making process, from pattern drafting to cutting, assembling and finishing
a garment. For him, the design process started with the fabric rather than with a sketch, "it's the fabric
that decides" he stated, proving that he knew how to exploit materials to the very best effect.

Balenciaga's Spanish heritage influenced many of his most iconic designs. His wide-hipped 'Infanta'
dresses from the late 1930s drew on the portraiture of the 17th-century Spanish artist Diego
Velázquez. Flamenco dresses, matador outfits and black lace – seen in the traditional mantilla shawls
worn by women at special ceremonies and during Spanish Holy Week – were also frequent motifs.

About the logo:

Conceived in-house, the development process was inspired by the clarity of public transportation
signage. The result is a visually shortened logo which gives a simple, bold stamp to the timeless
deluxe Balenciaga signature.
Timeline of major events:

1895- Cristobal Balenciaga was born in Getaria in the Basque region of Spain.

1917- Cristobal Balenciaga opens his haute couture House in San Sebastian, Spain.

1937- Opens his fashion House at 10 Avenue George V in Paris. Presentation of his first collection
greeted with immediate success by the press and buyers.

1947- Creation of the first Balenciaga perfume: “Le Dix”.

1948- Creates his second perfume: “La Fuite des Heures”.

1951- Creation of the Vareuse and “Cocoon” line.

1952- Launch of his first boxy suits. Creation of the “Parachute” dress.

1953- Waistlines drop to hip level transforming the silhouette.

1955- Creates his first tunic “I”. Launch of his third perfume: “Quadrille”. Collaboration with Robert
Goossens on a jewelry line.

1957- His simplified lines continue a fashion revolution.

“Sac” dress, “Cloche et Paon” line.

1958- Creation of the “Baby Doll” dresses and the gazar d’Abraham fabric. He is awarded the Legion
of Honor.

1959- Suits are presented with short jackets and higher waistlines. “Amphore” line.

1961- Evening gowns a la Zurbaran, duenna’s dresses and magnificent negligees. Creation of
costumes for the play “Orphée” by Jean Cocteau.

1963- Creation of the “Sari” dress. Launches a range of boots presented with his sports outfits, in
collaboration with Mancini. Collaboration with Roger Vivier for a collection of sandals.

1965- Creation of the “Pétale” dress.

1968- Presents his last collection, and retires to his house in Spain after 30 years of innovation in the
fashion industry.

1972- Death of Cristobal Balenciaga on March 24, 1972, in Javea, Spain. He is buried in his native
Basque region.

1997- Nicolas Ghesquière becomes the Creative Director of the House.

2001-Kering acquires Balenciaga House.

2004- Introduction of the Men ready-to-wear and accessories collection.

2006- Balenciaga exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

2011- “Balenciaga and Spain” exhibition at the De Young Fine Art Museum of San Francisco.
Opening of the Cristobal Balenciaga Museum at Getaria in Spain.

2012- “Cristobal Balenciaga collector of fashions” exhibition at Les Docks Cité de la Mode et du
Design Paris. Alexander Wang is appointed Creative Director of the House.

2015- Demna Gvasalia is appointed Artistic Director of the collections.

2016- Presentation of the first men’s runway show for the SS 2017 collection.

2017- Opening of a new store in Paris, Avenue Montaigne.

In the 1950s, the later phase of his career, Balenciaga pioneered new shapes never before seen in
women's fashion. These radical designs evolved gradually as he refined and reworked the same ideas
from season to season. Volume filled the 'balloon hems' of his early 1950s dresses, and was then used
at the back of his 'semi-fit' lines in the mid-50s – dresses and jackets fitted at the front but with loose
voluminous backs. In 1957 he shocked the fashion world with the introduction of the 'sack dress', a
straight up and down shift dress which completely eliminated the waist. At a time when Christian
Dior's hour-glass shaped New Look was still dominant, the 'sack' was initially met with hostility from
both clients and press. "It's hard to be sexy in a sack!" cried the Daily Mirror. Like many of
Balenciaga's most radical designs, this look eventually filtered into the mainstream. The sack dress
was the forerunner of the ubiquitous mini-dress of the 1960s – and remains a fashion staple today.

The baby doll dress, also from the late 1950s, continued the theme of abstracting the body, with its
trapeze-like shape skimming the waist. This abstraction reached a pinnacle in his designs of the late
60s, as can be seen in the dramatic four-pointed 'envelope dress', shown the year before he closed the
house. A sculptural form, moulded from his favourite fabric – stiff but lightweight silk gazar.
Although a big hit with the fashion press, only two were sold and one was returned because the client
couldn't figure out how to go to the bathroom in it.

Balenciaga dressed some of the most glamorous women of the 1950s and 60s including Hollywood
actress Ava Gardener, fashion icon Gloria Guinness and Mona von Bismarck, one of the world's
wealthiest women, who commissioned everything from ball-gowns to gardening shorts from the
couturier. He liked to dress women who had a strong sense of style and his clients were often
extremely loyal. When his fashion house closed in 1968 the news shocked his clinetele who
experienced a real sense of loss – Mona von Bismarck supposedly shut herself in her room for three
days straight.
Balenciaga's legacy

Unlike some other high-profile designers of the era, Balenciaga was a very private individual. He
refused to court the press, giving only one interview during his 50-year career. Despite his allusive
nature, Balenciaga led a revolution in fashion, and has consistently been revered by his
contemporaries, including the likes of Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, and the fashion leaders of
today. French designer Emanuel Ungaro, who trained with Balenciaga, said it was he who "laid the
foundations of modernity" in fashion, and both Ungaro and Andre Courrèges, another Balenciaga
protégé, took forward their teacher's minimalist aesthetic into the space-age chic of the 1960s.

The closure of Balenciaga's fashion house in 1968, and his death four years later, marked the end of
an era. Yet the master's innovative pattern cutting, use of new materials and bold architectural shapes
have remained greatly influential. In 1986 the Balenciaga label re-launched under a series of Creative
Directors. Of particular note are Nicolas Ghesquière – widely credited for reviving the label from
1997 to 2012 – and Demna Gvasalia, the current Creative Director who ensures the name Balenciaga
is on everybody's lips today. Both designers have worked closely with the Balenciaga House archives,
looking to the original designs by The Master for inspiration in cut, shape and materials. As Gvasalia
said of his latest collection, which drew heavily on iconic pieces by the house-founder "It is important
to know the past in order to build the future".
Marketing Strategy

Men and young "millennial" shoppers are the main drivers of a sales explosion at Balenciaga, the
storied couture firm turned edgy label now posting the fastest growth rates within the Kering group,
Millennials, the generation born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, are fueling growth across
the luxury goods industry, accounting for about a third of global sales, though brands are fighting for
attention from these shoppers.
Men's fashion, meanwhile, has typically contributed less to luxury brand earnings than women's
clothing and accessories, but an emphasis on high-end casual wear at many labels as well as a push to
sell online has begun to fuel growth in this segment.

"Millennials represent 60 percent of what we sell. Together with men, these are growing faster than
any other (category)," Balenciaga chief executive Cedric Charbit told a Financial Times luxury goods
conference in Venice, Italy.

The 101-year-old label, once known for its structured haute couture dresses by founder Cristobal
Balenciaga, does not break out earnings, though Kering boss Francois-Henri Pinault has flagged it
will reach 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) in annual sales of its fashion, shoes and handbags in the
medium-term.
Still dwarfed by stablemate Gucci, with 6.2 billion euros in revenue in 2017, Kering said Balenciaga
was its fastest-growing brand in the past two quarters, trumping the Italian label's 49 percent rise in
comparable sales in the January to March period.
Under Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia, hired in 2015, Balenciaga has embraced logos and
streetwear looks like hoodies, while still experimenting with textures and silhouettes in futuristic or
glamourous styles. Charbit said Balenciaga was growing fast, including more than 100 percent in
some cases, across all areas, from handbags to clothing, even though the brand has become known for
its $850 thick-soled "Triple S" sneakers.

"There's not a dinner I go to where a father or someone (doesn't) say 'stop releasing these shoes, it's
out of control, we spend too much money at Balenciaga', which I'm very happy with," Charbit said.

The brand is among several increasingly courting male shoppers as a fresh growth avenue as luxury
goods spending, especially by Chinese consumers, rebounds. Some rivals like Louis Vuitton, owned
by LVMH, have recently changed menswear designers.

Kering finance director Jean-Marc Duplaix said in April Balenciaga was extending its men's business,
without detailing how.
Brand strategy

 Reinforcing awareness thanks to a strong network of stores

Marketing Mix

Product

 Innovative designs
 Founder’sheritage
 Product range: Womens and menswear: Ready-to-wear, shoes, leathergoods and accessories,
perfume, cosmetics, eyewear

Price

 Luxury prices
 Price range: From €105 to €9,950 for women From €85 to €1,795 for men

Promotion

 Printed advertising
 Billboards
 Online advertising
 Social media
 Celebrity endorsement
 Visual Merchandising

Place

 21 stores in 19 Europe 11 stores stores in6 stores in in China Japan the US 7 stores in the
Middle-East Also available from online retailers Net-à-Porter and Yoox E-commerce on
Balenciaga.com

Positioning

 Historical fashion house

Target Consumer

Customer type:

 Fashion-aware
 Self-confident
 Wealthy
 It-bag enthusiast
 Women between 16 and 55
 Men between 20 and 55
SWOT Analysis

Strengths

 Strong reputation and heritage

Weaknesses

 Shift in designers
 Lack of recognisability
 Mostly seasonable products

Opportunities

 Converting to M-Commerce
 Entering other fashion-educated markets: Australia, Brazil, Canada, India
 Increase online presence and brand interaction

Threats

 Extremely competitive market

A major point of interest has been Balenciaga. Kering occasionally drops hints about its success: At a
conference last May, Balenciaga's CEO Cedric Charbit said that the Demna Gvasalia-led brand was
the fastest-growing within the group. On Wednesday, as first reported by The Fashion Law, the group
said that in 2019, Balenciaga will "substantially" pass the 1-billion-euro mark. That would bring it
neck-and-neck with Kering's third-largest brand, Bottega Veneta, which made about €1.1 billion in
2018 (after several periods of decline, it's worth noting). Saint Laurent is nearing the €2 billion mark
with sales of €1.7 billion, while Gucci is leaps and bounds beyond them having surpassed €8 billion in
sales in 2018. In fact, Balenciaga's entire business is about in line with Gucci's online business, which
is expected to surpass €1 billion soon.

Last year, Charbit attributed Balenciaga's success to millennial, who were making 60 percent of
Balenciaga's consumers, and male shoppers. On Wednesday, Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault said
that Balenciaga will focus on ramping up menswear and leather goods to build on its existing
momentum.

Still trailing behind Balenciaga are brands like Alexander McQueen and Brioni, both of which Kering
is focused on expanding.

Overall, with sales up 21.9 percent for the first quarter of 2019, things are looking good for Kering.
And if it can turn its smaller brands into Guccis and Saint Laurents, which it clearly hopes to do,
things could soon be looking even better.
Thank You
Submitted to- Prof. Ajira Sharma Asthana

Submitted by- Aayushi Jain & Hemani Singla

For- Luxury Approach Assignment Submission

Date- 25 November 2019