Mary BlumeThe Master of Us All: Balenciaga, His Workrooms, His World

Culled from the many books and catalogues about Balenciaga, Mary Blume has managed to mine new information and revelation about the greatest couture Master of his Time.Succinctly written - easy to read between the lines concerning his relationship with his family and especially with Givenchy and friendship with Chanel -any admirer of the Great Man, and of the Couture, will find this compact and elegant petit biography well worth perusing.

Bought this for my daughter studying fashion and business at Brighton Uni - a read I hope she will enjoy

Brilliantly written, provides a thoughtful and intimate account of life working and living aside Balenciaga. I don't want it to end! Also arrived in excellent condition, couldn't have bought it better in a shop.

Wonderful book. A great genius of fashion.

Lots of background information about the fashion industry, context of time and person. You dive into the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties. Very well written. Not many pictures, but very rewarding.

I have been interested in haute couture for most of my life and have many books on the legendary haute couture designers, including beautifully photographed coffee table books. Balenciaga is my absolute favourite, but little has been written in any detail by anyone connected to him about this reclusive haute couturier. This book is like a time machine and transports you back to the salon's of Balenciaga, in San Sebastian in his native Spain and of course Paris. You learn about his key fashion influences, his rise to fashion superstardom and fashion innovation, and of his support to other designers like Andre Courreges, Emanual Ungaro, Hubert De Givenchy, and his bitter fallout with Coco Chanel. However, I was most fascinated about life in the Paris house of Balenciaga, the very complex cutthroat hierarchy of the salon, how it worked, the wealthy customers, the workrooms with Balenciaga's uncompromising, meticulous, attention to every single detail, and his lifelong obsession with sleeves. They didn't call him the couturiers couturier for nothing, and his influence endures through today's high profile fashion designers and haute couturiers. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and did not want it to end. A must for lovers of the golden age of haute couture.

OK

Overall, an enjoyable read.The main thing that I did not like was that there was relatively very little about Balenciaga throughout the book, as compared to the extraneous, biographical information of several other people. Almost as if this information was just filler. I understand that the man was notoriously private, so I'm sure getting any "meat" for the core of the book was challenging. Perhaps a more apt title would have been, Balenciaga, a Moment in Time with Those That Knew Him.I would recommend this book if you are interested in the general histories of fashion, Paris, WWII and society. This is why I liked the book.If you are looking for an in depth biography of the man (presumably impossible,) then I would look elsewhere.

I'm probably not going to finish this book. I was excited about it because I enjoyed the biography of YSL, The Beautiful Fall, and D.V. for instance; however, this book is grasping at straws to fill out the elusive Balenciaga. The author admits from the start that she is going off of very limited information. I understand the difficulty of constructing a biography about a very private person, but if the dearth of information is truly as bad as the author makes it seem, I don't understand why this isn't a much smaller book. Instead, she chooses to fill in gaps with basic historical information to the point where you forget the subject is Balenciaga or fashion. Basically, if you want to read a book about French and Spanish history in the early 20th century, have at it! Had I not bought the Kindle edition, you could have my copy!

Book arrived in condition described. This is a very interesting look at the life of Balenciaga , an extrodinary man.

Fascinating story

Excellent! Balenciaga was a very private man, so there isn't a lot of personal info but there is wonderful coverage of all the designers around him and the people he helped...like Givenchy. Thoroughly enjoyable book!

Interesting if you never knew much about Balenciaga. Since not much has been written about him, it does bring some insight on who he was, and how different his 'house' is today. An easy read. Written mainly from stories from his one top vendeuse, so in a way, it's hard to tell how accurate the accounts were.

A memoir by Parisian journalist Mary Blume about the career and life's work of Cristobal BALENCIAGA, and his vendeuse Florette, who dressed the great and rich women of the era.Good writing and a trip to another time. And the clothes!

For a great master like Christobal Balenciaga, a very private man, not much of his private life is known. Tons of books and references about his great clothes and obsession of the "Sleeves" make him perhaps the greatest designer of the 20th Century. Here in this book you get a glimpse of the TRUE Balenciaga, the man who is working and makes comments on people, clothes and food. The sensitivity and obsessive ways that make his clothes the perfect dress to wear. A true artist by temper and a craftsman by nature, this book tells you a lot about why he is the Great Balenciaga that he is.