Balanciaga Shape. The elegance of the hat
Cristóbal Balenciaga designed hats essential to the elegance, exquisiteness and creativity of the total look. He experimented freely, using a style and shape that were highly individual, so much so that one type of hat became known as the “Balenciaga Shape”.
“Balenciaga. The Elegance of the Hat” is the first international exhibition focusing on Cristóbal Balenciaga’s hats and headdresses, created in the haute couture house’s millinery departments in Paris and Madrid from the late 1930s to the closure of the Balenciaga fashion house in 1968.
The exhibition includes 87 hats, 78 of which are presented individually, and 9, as part of an outfit and with a dress and a stole. The Design Museum of Barcelona contributed 43 of the pieces, while 44 came from the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum collection. Cristóbal Balenciaga established a very characteristic style and shape in his hat designs, with stylised, refined volumes created through simple, almost abstract shapes. His hats are true sculptures.
Balanciaga. The Elegance of the Hat take place, thanks to years of joint research into the hat collections at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum and the Design Museum of Barcelona, which have co-produced the exhibition. It has been curated by Igor Uría, a conservator at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum, and by Sílvia Ventosa, a conservator of fabrics and clothing at the Design Museum of Barcelona, and promoted by the Barcelona Design Hub.
