Balenciaga – Kublin

An exquisite photography book featuring the collaborative work of fashion photographer Tom Kublin and renowned haute couture designer Cristóbal Balenciaga. This is the first book to document the short yet prolific artistic career of fashion photographer and filmmaker Tom Kublin, and a celebration of his creative union with Cristóbal Balenciaga during the fashion house’s postwar heyday in Paris. More than 140 photographs and film stills by Kublin capture the golden age of Balenciaga couture in the 1950s and 1960s, from the impeccable elegance of the collection shoots – including exclusive film footage of Balenciaga himself at work – to striking covers and editorials for high-profile magazines. The book begins with a foreword by the photographer’s daughter, María Kublin, and continues with a biography by Ana Balda, charting Kublin’s career, his place in the artistic milieu of the European avant-garde, and his working relationship with Cristóbal Balenciaga. Miren Vives, head of the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum, also contributes. Additional texts come from the fashion industry professionals who worked with and knew Kublin best: an interview with his partner and muse, the model Katinka Bleeker; memories from the Italian fashion photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri, who began his career as Kublin’s assistant in Paris in the 1960s; and a piece by Lydia Slater, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar UK, who looks back on Kublin’s work for the magazine at a pivotal time in its history. Honouring the successes and innovations of Tom Kublin’s stellar career, this book records for posterity his contribution to fashion photography and to the iconography of the House of Balenciaga.

Dr Ana Balda is a fashion curator and associate lecturer at the University of Navarra, where she teaches Fashion and Fashion Illustration. Together with María Kublin, she co-curated the exhibition ‘Tom Kublin for Balenciaga. An Unusual Collaboration’ at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum in 2022. María Kublin is the daughter of fashion photographer Tom Kublin and fashion model Katinka. María works as an independent curator and has curated many art and photography exhibitions.