BALENCIAGA

One afternoon during our stay in Barcelona Mary and I visited the Museu Textil d'Indumentaria, a costume and textile museum located on the university campus. Their permanent collection explores and emphasizes how clothes modify the body through restriction or liberation and includes pieces from the 16th century to present day fashions. I really liked their take on fashion history - visitors are invited to critically observe the manipulation of the body's appearance and draw on historical and contemporary examples in order to visualise how we continue to modify the body’s image with clothes. It's an exploration of clothing and form that makes a lot of sense to me right now.

They also had a small but beautiful collection of vintage pieces from Spanish master Cristobal Balanciaga.
As described by the museum:

'Balenciaga, in a single piece, combines different actions: he simultaneously broadens and reduces, defines and detracts. In this way he gives emphasis to new parts of the body. Day wear and tailored suits are unadorned with pure lines and uncomplicated tailoring. Evening wear uses internal structures to create huge volumes....'

Beautiful.