Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga got his start in fashion at the young age of thirteen, when he charmed the Marquise of Casa Torres with a compliment on her elegance. The Marquise encouraged Cristobal to design a dress for her, and the rest is history. Cristobal Balenciaga traveled to Paris and encouraged his already burgeoning talent by exposing himself to the then popular design houses of the early 20th century; Doucet, Worth and Drecoll.

The originator of Balenciaga was a man by the name of Cristobal Balenciaga, and he was born in Guetaria in the year of 1885. Mr. Balenciaga's father was a sailor as a occupation, and this job cost him his life at a young age. The mother of Cristobal was a dressmaker, and he often helped his mother and quickly picked up the skills of dressmakin, and his skills were noticed at a very young age.

It wasn't until the year of 1919, when Balenciaga was 25 that he opened his first Salon, and it was located in San Sebastian. He just sold his merchandise here locally, and in the year 1933 he decided it was time to expand and opened up a second and third shop.

In 1937 Balenciaga decided to move his sales to an international level and decided to head to Paris. He was not a novice when he arrived in Paris, and within a year the most elite of Paris were seen wearing his gowns to all major occasions including weddings and Balenciaga was seen as a huge inspiring talent coming up in the fashion industry.

Balenciaga always seems to be a few steps ahead of the other fashion designers, it came out with the designs ahead of the time, with sleeveless in the 60's before many other designs dared. In the year 1945 as soon as the war ended, Balenciaga changed his design a bit and hit up much more modern designs, with much brighter colors. In 1972 Cristobal Balenciaga died, at the age of 77. His family to this day continues to keep the company going, keeping true to their roots of high end quality dresses, and also leather goods such as handbags and purses.