Cristóbal Balenciaga could be considered the great master of couture of the twentieth century in the world of fashion. After his exile to France, he founded his personal brand, creating new volumes and silhouettes. Since then, it has been maintained to this day thanks to his successive creative directors, who have been able to give it continuity.

This is exactly how our students in the third year of the official degree in fashion design were presented with their latest project: to create a collection inspired by the work and career of Balenciaga. A real challenge, which motivated our students even more.

Under this briefing and starting situation, Ana Garcia decided to seek inspiration from 4 designers of the brand, including Balenciaga himself. These designers are: Nicolas Guesquiére, Alexander Wang and Demna Gvasalia.

As if it were a symbiosis, hence the name of the collection: Simbio, and taking as references the shapes, textures, silhouettes and working styles of each one, Ana designed a collection with a total of 20 looks, 10 for men and 10 for women, of which she ended up making three: two for women and one for men.

Ana tells us that to develop the pants for the men's look she worked with the waistbands of 7 different jeans: "Some of the pants were given to me by friends and family, others I bought directly from the store. There were so many that my father helped me unpick them". To materialize these pants Ana used several processes and techniques, such as the use of bleach, which discolored the fabric so she could make a drawing on the back, as well as a handmade embroidery on the hood.

On the other hand, if we focus on the feminine looks, specifically in the purple one, a braiding has been made in the neckline area, mixing fabric and wires that provide rigidity to the whole, but that made its realization tedious due to the combination of materials. In addition, this look has been modeled on a mannequin, 'allowing for more experimentation'. Focusing on the gray look, Ana explains that she first made the letter 'B' and then added the patterns on top to cut them out, thus preserving the shape, without the puckering of the letter itself modifying the garment.

It should be noted that both the male look and the female look in purple has a hood and mask representing the mystery surrounding the life of C. Balenciaga.

To finalize this project Ana, a native of Almeria, decided to make a photographic and audiovisual shooting in the center of her city, as part of the branding campaign that was requested within the subject of Design Management, obtaining high quality results.