Cristobal Balenciaga stopped his working as designer and closed his couture house in 1968. After about 30 years of the close of his couture house, a 26-year-old Frenchman Nicolas Ghesquiere opened the couture house and started working as creative director of Balenciaga in 1997 after the leaving of Josephus Thimister.

Ghesquiere had quietly freelanced for Balenciaga’s licences since 1995. Three years later, Ghesquiere was awarded with the Vogue/VHl Avant Garde Designer of the Year Award and after it the CFDA womenswear Designer of the Year title in 2001. Suzy Menkes associated with The International Herald Tribune…