Balenciaga: Masterpieces of fashion design
The recent Balenciaga exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria was in one sense a splendid treat and in another quite an anticlimax. In comparison to the sensational, iconic fashion photographs of the designer's works by Norman Parkinson, Richard Avedon, lrving Penn and Tom Kublin, some of the garments seemed quite bland. One looked in vain for the flawless abstraction of the photographs, the crisp slickness of shape, the formal starkness of black on white and the drama of posturing models. When garment was shown in conjunction with photo image, as with the phallic black gazar 'Cabbage Cape and sheath' of 1967 and photograph by Kublin, their differing sets of meanings were vividly highlighted but were equally quite troubling. Ultimately, where does the aura or cult value of Balenciaga lie–in object or image or both?
Yet the aesthetic dilemmas posed by such juxtapositioning did not detract from the glorious spectacle of the du luxe evening wear for which the designer is best known. This is the sort of fashion at which the French have traditionally excelled and the curator, Robin Healy, has done full justice to these theatrical pieces. Admittedly the impression was especially stunning as the large 'salon' space devoted to these garments was entered through a dispiriting display of wool suits and coats which, we were told, changed design standards for such garments forever. The reasons for this are explored in the well produced and informative catalogue but not at all clear to those simply indulging in looking. In spite of this and the rather motley array of models-some with anachronistically stockinged but shoeless feet there was a dramatic recreation of catwalk glamour, with gowns of pale yellow