Balenciaga

Founded in 1914 by the Basque designer Cristobal Balenciaga, the house emerged as one of the great design establishments in the early decades of the twentieth century, and re-emerged around the turn of the new millennium as one of the greats of the twenty-first. Balenciaga attended tailoring school in Madrid, and soon opened boutiques in the country. The Spanish Civil War forced him to relocate to Paris in 1937—a tragic turn of events that had a silver lining: The greater stage of Paris gave him a chance to expland his clientele and solidify his reputation as the "couturier of couturiers." Balenciaga died in 1972. In 1987, the name was revived as a prêt-à-porter label, but it wasn't until 1997, when the youthful French designer Nicolas Ghesquière came onboard as creative director, that the house began to regain its former prominence. Giving concepts from the rich Balenciaga archives an intriguing rethink, the instinctively progressive Ghesquière was dubbed a new messiah by the press. In 2001, the Gucci Group added Balenciaga to its stable of luxury brands.