Balenciaga regains the historic Parisian seat of its eponymous founder. When Cristóbal Balenciaga moved to France in 1937, he installed his sewing house, which he had founded in Spain in 1917, at 10 Avenue George V. Balenciaga, property since 2001 of the luxury group Kering, there will install his workshops and haute couture offices, as well as his design studios, in the six-storey building Avenue George V, whose interiors were completely renovated and enlarged.
The building is imbued with the spirit of Cristóbal Balenciaga, who lived there until 1968. The designer had even called his first perfume Le Dix (number 10) in reference to the address, on whose façade a commemorative plaque is now affixed. The ground floor, formerly used to sell the brand's perfume lines and accessories, has recently been transformed into a haute couture shop, offering « an innovative retail experience, where customers can discover exclusive collaborations and unique pieces »declared the mark in a press release. in which he also stated that the building « will become the seat of Balenciaga.
The legendary building reopened in 2021 to host Demna's first haute couture parade (full name Demna Gvasalia), the creative director of Balenciaga since 2015, signaling the brand's intention to return to the haute couture sector, which she had abandoned 53 years earlier. . Since then, Balenciaga has organized two other haute couture parades in the building, the last on July 5, with two icons like Isabelle Huppert and Inès de la Fressange as models.
On this occasion, the brand unveiled some of the interiors restyled and expanded from its new head office. The renovations allowed Balenciaga to double the size of the sewing workshops, which now extend to number 12 of George V Avenue, in the premises above the adjacent Crazy Horse disco. « The haute couture and ready-to-wear workshops and new offices have now been added »said Balenciaga.
In parallel, in 2022, the label led by Cédric Charbit moved part of its staff to a building about 4,000 square meters at 16-18 rue Vaneau, as FashionNetwork.com reported last year. The building houses suite C of the label, other senior executives and the communications department, among others.
The George V Avenue building was renovated in 2020. « The previous architectural iterations were improved during the renovation of the building, originally designed by Albert Le Voisvenel in 1887, and then redeveloped by Christos Bellos, under the aegis of Cristóbal Balenciaga », said label it. At the time, note Balenciaga, « interiors were extremely discreet for a sewing house, with neutral colors and characteristic features of a Parisian apartment, selected not to distract attention from collections ».
Pour la réouverture du bâtiment en 2021, « les arabesques en stuc blanc cassé d’origine, les parquets grinçants et les tapis gris chauds ont été recréés et patinés pour évoquer le passage intact des décennies », a déclaré Balenciaga. « J’ai décidé de reproduire les salons originaux de cette époque avec le plus de détails possible, et en plus de créer un effet authentiquement vieilli et poussiéreux pour les intérieurs, comme si les appartements avaient été rouverts après plus d’un demi-siècle d’abandon », écrit Demna sur le site du label. « Les espaces récemment rouverts présentent des mises à jour high-tech et des détails modernes tels que le verre fumé foncé qui sépare les murs bruts, établissant une destination où le passé, le présent et l’avenir de Balenciaga vivent en harmonie », a déclaré Balenciaga.
Balenciaga a shooté la campagne automne-hiver 2023-24 dans le bâtiment pendant les travaux de rénovation, au milieu de maçonneries à moitié construites et de pots de peinture. Il a été photographié par le photographe américain Tyler Mitchell, et mettait notamment en vedette l’actrice Isabelle Huppert et la top model Vittoria Ceretti.