It’s clear that we can’t get enough of seeing trailblazing designers on screen. From insightful documentaries like the BBC’s recent Coco Chanel: Unbuttoned to forthcoming dramas like Apple TV+’s The New Look, which will follow both Chanel and Christian Dior, and Disney+’s Kaiser Karl, poised to chart Karl Lagerfeld’s ascent, there are already plenty to keep us occupied – but now, a lavish new release is joining their ranks: a sumptuous period drama which will chronicle the stratospheric rise of Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Due to land on Disney+ on 19 January 2024, bringing some much-needed sparkle to the dreariest month of the year, Cristóbal Balenciaga will centre on Alberto San Juan, the Spanish star of stage and screen, in the part of the titular maestro – a fashion revolutionary who was born into obscurity in the Basque town of Getaria, the son of a fisherman and a seamstress, before rising to become one of the most revered couturiers in the world. The show will, however, focus on one particular, formative period of his career: the time when, after several successful years of dressing aristocrats and royalty in his homeland, he moved to Paris in the wake of the Spanish Civil War and began experimenting with radical, sculptural silhouettes.
The official log line for the series reads: “Cristóbal Balenciaga begins as the designer presents his first Parisian haute couture collection in 1937. He has left behind a successful career in his ateliers in Madrid and San Sebastián dressing the Spanish elite and aristocracy. However, the designs that had set the trend in Spain don’t quite work in the sophisticated fashion empire that Paris has become, where Chanel, Dior and Givenchy are the benchmark of haute couture. Guided by his obsession for control in all aspects of his life, Cristóbal Balenciaga will define his style and eventually become one of the most important designers of all time.”
Created by Lourdes Iglesias and 12-time Goya award winners Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño and José María Goenaga, Cristóbal Balenciaga will also see San Juan joined by a talented European supporting cast who will embody the countless luminaries in the designer’s glittering circle: Belén Cuesta as Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, the Queen of Belgium, whose wedding dress was designed by Balenciaga; Josean Bengoetxea as businessman Nicolás Bizkarrondo; Cecilia Solaguren as his wife, Virgilia Mendizabal; Adam Quintero as Balenciaga’s collaborator and sometime lover Ramón Esparza; and Thomas Coumans as Wladzio D’Attainville, with whom the designer reportedly had his most intense personal and professional relationship.
Also set to feature? Gemma Whelan as journalist Prudence Glynn, the first fashion editor of The Times; Gabrielle Lazure as Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar and a former Vogue fashion editor; Anouk Grinberg as the inimitable Coco Chanel; Patrice Thibaud as Christian Dior; Nine d’Urso, the daughter of fashion stalwart Inès de La Fressange, as the model and Balenciaga muse Colette; and Anne-Victoire Olivier as another client, Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn.
If the glorious early stills – which showcase eye-catching costumes created by Oscar and Emmy nominee Bina Daigeler (the woman behind Penélope Cruz’s bombshell wardrobe in Volver and Lydia Tár’s icy quiet luxury) – are anything to go by, it’s destined to be a bow-laden, meticulously-designed treat.
