"BALMAIN" par Gérard-Julien SALVY. Edition du Regard, Paris. 1996. Imprimé en Espagne. Fort petit in-4, couverture toilée taupe sous jaquette photo (état d'usage). 288 pages Texte en anglais, traduit du français par Christine Schultz-Touge, design graphique par Léo Thieck, illustré de très nombreuses reproductions photographiques noir & blanc et couleurs, in-texte et hors texte, de nombreux photographes tels Cecil Beaton, Kublin, Maron, Willy Maywald, Pottier, Yurek… et pour les plus récentes par Patricia Canino.

 

"You ask me about Elegance which is not my business, but yours. Did you think I could logically demonstrate the merits of a given model of hat or dress? Not that I feel totally incapable of muttering, on occasion, a considered opinion. I might even dare, perhaps, to illustrate my ideas with a sketch. But precepts? Never. For that matter, a hat or dress is merely an episode or instant of elegance. These are things that exist only for a moment, only in the life of the wearer. Sometimes, however well-made they may be, they wilt on the head or shoulders of a woman doomed by the gods to unredeemable indistinction. Consider that beauty itself is not always capable of elegance: it is something quite apart - there are women so beautiful that they cannot be elegant. Because being elegant means constructing a composition of a great many things - and yet making nothing of it. What do you expect me to say about a bouquet of qualities designed to produce a singular impression, without being odd, where a certain desire to "not draw attention" mixes with a subtly noticeable concern to be… distinctive." Paul Valéry, Letter on Elegance.

 

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