An exhibition has opened at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum in Spain that includes five works by students from Shenkar’s Department of Fashion Design, together with students from 12 of the most prestigious international fashion design schools. The exhibition is part of a special project aimed at preserving the legacy of the renowned designer.

The Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum initiated a collaboration with 12 of the most prestigious international fashion design schools to preserve the designer’s illustrious legacy. At the end of the 2-year project, throughout the Covid pandemic, the museum selected outstanding works by 41 students that are currently on display until January at a special exhibition that opened in Spain.

The works of five students from Shenkar’s Department of Fashion Design are displayed at the exhibition: alumni Ran Gerber and Roy Bardas, who graduated in 2021, and final-year students Yuli Toledano, Gal Yosef, and Yule Meuded. The exhibition’s opening in Spain was attended by Ilan Beja – head of the Department of Fashion Design at Shenkar, Maya Arazi and Jaqueline Sofer – the project facilitators, and lecturers and students from Central Saint Martins (London), Parsons (New York), Iceland Academy of the Arts, the Fashion Academy in Rome, and IED in Madrid.

Jaqueline Sofer, Ilan Beja, Gal Yosef, Yule Meuded, Maya Arazi

Gal Yosef, Photo: Tamir Mosh

The unique project was led by lecturers Maya Arazi and Jaqueline Sofer for two years as part of the tailored garments course. At the start of the project, in 2019, the museum invited all of the lecturers for a visit to the museum’s fashion archive, where they presented Cristóbal Balenciaga’s most iconic items and analyzed the unique work methods employed by the famous designer.

Legendary fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga was renowned for his virtuoso capabilities to create tailored garments with sculpted contours in rounded and harmonious lines. He had the ability to transform his sketches from paper to reality using his prodigious skills in advanced tailoring.

Roy Bardas, Photo Yossi Gamzu

The knowledge and the digital materials that the museum prepared for the students was sent to them as part of the course. The students were asked to reconstruct historical Cristóbal Balenciaga items, to conduct a study of his work and design processes, while learning and reinterpreting them as individuals. The goal was to offer new contours using innovative techniques, and to create a unique and personal aesthetic design language and fashionable and contemporary garments.