Cristóbal Balenciaga and Australia: Importing, Reproducing and Adapting Balenciaga Couture in Sydney, 1938–1968

Cristóbal Balenciaga is considered one of the most innovative designers of the twentieth century, with an influence extending well beyond Europe and North America. Within one year of showing his first haute couture collection in Paris, the Australian press reported on Balenciaga and details of his collections were promptly relayed back to receptive audiences in both metropolitan and regional centers. Australian women did not have to wait long before they could see and buy Balenciaga garments for themselves, as original models were imported, reproduced and adapted in Australia by 1939. This article traces the transfer of Balenciaga’s clothing to Australia during the inter-war period and after the Second World War, with a focus on Sydney couture salon Germaine Rocher. In 1934, Vera Fels emigrated from Paris to Sydney, and established couture salon Germaine Rocher, producing authorized reproductions of Paris models. Existing Australian fashion histories have largely overlooked pre-Second World War haute couture in Australia, with more emphasis on the postwar period. Encompassing rich stories of migration and the transfer of haute couture technical knowledge to Australia in the early to mid-twentieth century, this study provides new understandings of the wearing of couture in Australia as well as transcultural relations and Australia’s fashion history.