Balenciaga: The Fragrance of a True Couturier, Revived After a 15-Year Search

“A tailor must be an architect in design, a sculptor in form, a painter in color, a musician in harmony, and a philosopher in moderation.”

— Cristóbal Balenciaga​

Basic Information

• Founded: 1917 (San Sebastián, Spain)
• Founder: Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre
• Official website: balenciaga.com

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

A Boy Born in a Fishing Village on the Basque Coast

January 21, 1895, in Getaria, a small fishing village in the Basque region of northern Spain. Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre was born into a working-class family, with a fisherman father and a seamstress mother. His father died when Cristóbal was 11, after which his mother, Martina Eizaguirre, became the family’s mainstay. She undertook tailoring work for a prominent local family, the Marquises of Casa Torres, and Cristóbal grew up alongside her, familiar with needles and fabric from an early age.

This environment provided the soil in which his talent could grow. The fine clothes worn by summer visitors to Getaria and the meticulous tailoring his mother undertook were all living textbooks for the young Cristóbal.

Meeting the Marchioness, and His First Steps

A turning point came when he was around 12. Fascinated by the Parisian clothes worn by the Marchioness of Casa Torres, Cristóbal approached her directly and asked, “Please let me make one just like it.” Astonished by the quality of the finished garment, she became his first patron. The marchioness sent him to Madrid, giving him an opportunity to train formally as a tailor.

In 1917, at the age of 22, Cristóbal opened his own atelier in San Sebastián under the name “C. Balenciaga.” His second shop, established in 1927, was called “EISA,” a name taken from his mother’s maiden name, Eizaguirre. Even this choice of name conveys his deep respect and affection for her.

After expanding into Madrid and Barcelona, he established himself as a luxury tailor whose clientele included the Spanish royal family and aristocracy.

The Spanish Civil War, and the Move to Paris

The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 changed everything. The following year, Cristóbal closed his Spanish ateliers and moved his activities to Paris. That August, he opened a new house at 10 Avenue George V in the city’s 8th arrondissement, holding his first runway show with a collection inspired by the Spanish Renaissance.

In Paris, he would stand alongside figures such as Gabrielle Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli. By 1939, French critics were praising him as “a force capable of revolutionizing fashion,” and his reputation spread rapidly.​

The Silent Emperor

Cristóbal Balenciaga was a strikingly enigmatic figure in the fashion world of his day. He rarely agreed to press interviews. According to researchers, he is said to have given only two interviews in his lifetime. Recent research, however, also offers the view that the claim that he “gave no interviews for 50 years,” often used to illustrate his aversion to the media, is inaccurate: an image formed after he stopped dealing with the press in January 1956, as a business decision, was projected retrospectively onto his entire career.

Coco Chanel (in Japanese) once said:

“Balenciaga alone is a couturier in the true sense. He alone can cut the fabric himself, assemble it, and sew a dress entirely on his own.”​

Christian Dior (in Japanese) called him “the master of us all,” and Hubert de Givenchy (in Japanese) learned from him as an assistant. Although he stood at the pinnacle of fashion, Cristóbal never sought the center of the spotlight. That austere attitude also inspired today’s Balenciaga fragrance No Comment.​

Retirement and a Solitary Final Act

In May 1968, the 73-year-old Cristóbal abruptly announced his retirement and closed his Paris house. According to reporting in The New York Times at the time, he is said to have concluded that “it was no longer possible to create true haute couture.” The story of staff members breaking down in tears, audible over the telephone when the house’s closure was announced, is well known.

Cristóbal died in Jávea, Spain, on March 23, 1972, at the age of 77. In his hometown of Getaria, the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa, a museum bearing his name, opened in 2011, and his legacy continues to be passed on there.

The Brand’s Revival and the Modern Era

In 1986, the French fragrance group Jacques Bogart acquired the brand and brought about its revival. Josephus Thimister served as creative director from 1992, followed by Nicolas Ghesquière from 1997. Particularly during Ghesquière’s tenure, successes such as Le City Bag restored the brand’s contemporary luster. The Kering group acquired it in 2001. Demna, formerly known as Demna Gvasalia, subsequently served as creative director for many years, with Pierpaolo Piccioli succeeding him in 2025.

The Brand’s Distinctive Commitments

The Philosophy of Fragrance: Contrast and Duality

The current fragrance collection, released in 2025, centers on the idea of “a collision between tradition and innovation.” A representative of Kering Beauté explained the approach as follows:​

“Until now, Balenciaga fragrances had been operated under external licenses. While respecting those earlier efforts, we wanted to rebuild everything completely from scratch and reconstruct a perfume legacy truly aligned with the spirit of Balenciaga fashion, as it had been in the 1950s and 1960s.”​

Each fragrance is designed as a fusion of “traditional French perfumery techniques and the latest olfactory signatures.” Dualities such as natural ingredients and high-tech extraction, precision and poetry, form the aesthetic foundation of the collection as a whole. Ingredient sourcing also incorporated a process for assessing environmental impact and risks associated with natural materials.

The fragrance collection was created through a process of “sensory immersion”: each perfumer gained actual access to Balenciaga’s archives, handled fabrics, observed cuts, and closely studied photographs, sketches, and documents. Le Monde describes this process as “absorbing the house’s visual and tactile DNA and drawing from it an invisible material: a style of scent.”​

Bottle Design: A Vessel Beyond Time

The bottles for all 10 fragrances in the current collection faithfully reproduce the original 1947 design of Le Dix. Based on sketches by the founder himself, the bottle comprises “a spherical glass cap, a hand-tied ribbon, and a rectangular glass base.” High-precision 3D scanning reproduced the details of the original bottle almost perfectly. The labels, moreover, are deliberately finished with an aged patina, an aesthetic attempt to make “the passage of time” visible in material form.

The box packaging uses “Balenciaga’s signature industrial gray,” accompanied by a revival of the original Le Dix logotype. All bottles are manufactured, sealed, and packaged in France, while their refillable design also incorporates consideration for sustainability.

In 2025, the brand opened its first dedicated perfume boutique at 10 Avenue George V in Paris’s 8th arrondissement. Situated opposite the couture boutique across the entrance to the same building, the store combines “velvet, suede, concrete, steel, and mirrors,” following the architectural codes of the neighboring couture store.

The Fragrance Lineup

Le Dix: Birth, Loss, and Rebirth

Balenciaga first ventured into perfume in 1947. The name Le Dix refers to the number “10” in 10 Avenue George V, the address of its Paris atelier.

Created by perfumer Francis Fabron, the original Le Dix was an aldehydic floral combining bergamot, lemon, ylang-ylang, rose, iris, lilac, jasmine, musk, and other materials. Its sophisticated scent was enthusiastically embraced by postwar Parisian high society. Fabron also created the original Givenchy L’Interdit and Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps, and Le Dix is regarded as a masterpiece that fully showcases his delicate skill.

Dior’s Miss Dior and Balmain’s Vent Vert also appeared in 1947, and Le Dix left an unmistakable mark on the perfume history of that golden age.​

Between 1949 and 1962, three further fragrances were released under the founder’s direction: La Fuite des Heures, Eau de Balenciaga (1954), and Quadrille. Yet when the house closed after Cristóbal’s retirement, these perfumes gradually disappeared from shelves. Le Dix remained in circulation until the early 2000s, but was subsequently discontinued, and even Balenciaga’s own archives lost track of the original bottle.

A 15-Year Search and Rediscovery

The starting point for the 2025 collection was “a 15-year search for the lost original bottle of Le Dix,” initiated by Kering Beauté’s archivists. During this search, sketches by the founder himself were discovered, revealing a “true original design” different from the ridged flacon that had previously been widely known.

Still later, an original bottle dating to 1947 was found in the possession of a private collector in the United States. Although the liquid inside had become discolored and had largely evaporated, chypre and animalic aromatic components from the period remained, allowing modern analytical techniques to reveal its original form.​

This “detective-like discovery” became the foundation for the entire 2025 collection.

The 2025 Collection: History Told Through 10 Perfumes

Unveiled on September 10, 2025, the 10-fragrance collection is positioned as the brand’s first full-fledged return to haute parfumerie, with each scent embodying a different aspect of Balenciaga’s heritage.

All 10 fragrances and their characteristics are described below.

Le Dix
The foundation of the collection, reinterpreting the 1947 original. Iris absolute and a specially extracted iris aldehyde combine with violet leaf absolute and frankincense essential oil to express poised, androgynous elegance.

No Comment
An homage to the founder’s “philosophy of silence.” Spanish cypress essential oil and a synthetic green molecule create a serene yet powerful woody fougère. It gives olfactory form to Balenciaga’s stance that “things speak without speaking.”

Getaria
An homage to the founder’s birthplace, the fishing village of Getaria on the Basque coast. Salty citrus, pink pepper, and crystallized seaweed absolute evoke Atlantic sea breezes and the warmth of the sun.

Twenty Four Seven
A blissful scent of vanilla absolute, amber, and musk that seems to dissolve time. Its concept is a “cocoon-like embrace” that separates the wearer from the busyness of modern life.​

To Be Confirmed
An abstract floral inspired by the Tulip Dress, a haute couture masterpiece from 1958. A kimono tulip accord and silver needle tea extract blend with jasmine, ylang-ylang, and other notes.

Muscara
A fragrance inspired by the kohl-rimmed eyes of models on Balenciaga’s runways in the 1960s. Ambrette seed absolute and iris create a varnish-like tension and chemical precision.​

100%
This is the “secret scent” that the models carried into the venue at Demna’s final ready-to-wear show on March 9, 2025. It is a floral-metallic composition centered on a dramatic, operatic rose.​

Extra
A fragrance with a lively, passionate impression. The brand’s official description calls it “eternal radiance,” with mythical motifs woven through it. (Detailed primary information on its ingredients could not be confirmed at this point.)​

Cristóbal
Named for the founder, this is the most imposing fragrance in the collection. Rare Assafi Oud essence, patchouli, and oakmoss are layered into a profound composition. Balenciaga’s official description presents it as embodying “the founder’s duality: enigmatic and reserved, yet radiating a commanding presence.”​

Incense Perfumum
A fragrance embodying the founder’s favorite color, black, and the sense of silence in the Spanish paintings he admired, including those of Velázquez. Three types of frankincense essential oil form its core, with cedarwood and Spanish labdanum resin lending an amber-like depth. Wallpaper* describes the scent as “an experience like stepping into a painting by Velázquez.”

By the Way…

• Perfume “Kept the Brand Alive”
  From Cristóbal’s retirement in 1968 until Jacques Bogart revived the brand in 1986, Balenciaga was effectively dormant. Yet throughout those approximately 18 years, the fragrance licensing business was the one thing keeping its name present in the world. Le Monde describes this as “a period in which the brand maintained continuity, survival, and identity through the single vehicle of perfume.”​
• Staging an “Invisible Impact”
  March 9, 2025, at the last ready-to-wear show by creative director Demna. Inside a vast structure erected on the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris’s 8th arrondissement, a mysterious floral-metallic scent drifted through the venue with every model’s passage. The audience experienced it viscerally without knowing what it was. Four months later, the scent was revealed to be a new perfume named 100%.​
• Archival Research Worthy of a Detective
  The original Le Dix bottle that archivists pursued for 15 years was ultimately found as the sole 1947 bottle in the possession of an American private collector. In a further detective-novel-like twist, sketches by the founder himself revealed during the research that the ridged flacon long recognized as a Balenciaga symbol “was not the true original.”​