Author(s): Ana Balda; Maria Kublin

Fashion & Textiles | Spring Reading Guide 2024

The first book to document the short yet prolific artistic career of fashion photographer and filmmaker Tom Kublin, and a celebration of his creative union with Cristóbal Balenciaga during the fashion house's postwar heyday in Paris.

More than 140 photographs and film stills by Kublin capture the golden age of Balenciaga couture in the 1950s and 1960s, from the impeccable elegance of the collection shoots--including exclusive film footage of Balenciaga himself at work--to striking covers and editorials for high-profile magazines.

Balenciaga - Kublin begins with a foreword by Maria Kublin and continues with a biography by Ana Balda, charting Kublins career, his place in the artistic milieu of the European avant-garde, and his working relationship with Balenciaga. Miren Vives, head of the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum, also contributes.

Additional texts come from fashion industry professionals who worked with and knew Kublin best: an interview with his partner and muse, the model Katinka Bleeker; memories from the Italian fashion photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri, who began his career as Kublin's assistant in Paris in the 1960s; and a piece by Lydia Slater, editor in chief of Harper's Bazaar UK, who looks back on Kublin's work for the magazine at a pivotal time in its history.

This book honors the successes and innovations of Kublin's career, recording for posterity his contribution to fashion photography and the iconography of the House of Balenciaga.