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Leading figures from the world of haute couture, such as Cristóbal Balenciaga, Madame Grès and Azzedine Alaïa, were fervent admirers of 17th-century Spanish painting, and particularly the work of Zurbarán as attested to by various accounts and documents. Balenciaga, Grès and Alaïa notably drew their inspiration from the many Saint Francis figures painted by the artist throughout his career.

Madame Grès made a splash at the end of the Second World War with her “monk” coats with hooded capelets. Some of her creations are reminiscent of the Saint Francis painted by Zurbarán, as she skillfully combined the apparent simplicity of the cut of these garments with highly sophisticated pleating. Similarly, the volumes and draping of many of the pieces from the studio of the Spaniard Cristóbal Balenciaga seem to bear the hallmark of the painter's influence.

Cristóbal Balenciaga and Madame Grès shared a passion for sober volumes enlivened by skilful pleats and earthy colours, reminiscent of the robes worn by Saint Francis in the Spanish painter's work.

Azzedine Alaïa, trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Tunis, had a passion for classical art and never ceased to evoke his fondness for the paintings of Zurbarán, to which some of his hooded models seem to bear witness.

Labels

Karel Funk
Born in 1971 in Winnipeg (Canada)
Untitled #76
2016
Acrylic on panel
Stéphane Ribordy Collection
Karel Funk exclusively paints anonymous people in jackets, often from behind, against a neutral background, their heads covered by hoods. He pays great attention to the rendering of waterproof textiles that protect against the cold and rain. For the Canadian, the warm garment and hood are conducive to interiorisation, not unlike the monastic habit. His paintings are reminiscent of the hooded sweatshirts he used to wear when skateboarding, but also of the Saint Francis of Zurbarán paintings he admires.

Germaine Krebs, known as Madame Grès
Paris (France), 1903-1993
 
Dress
Autumn-Winter 1971
Wool flannel fabric
Paris, Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

Coat
Spring-Summer 1946
Black wool fabric
Paris, Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris
 
Long Dress
Spring-Summer 1947
Jersey and rayon crêpe fabric
Paris, Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

Day Dress
Autumn-Winter 1971
Double-faced wool fabric
Paris, Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

Day Dress
Autumn-Winter 1969
Double-faced wool fabric
Paris, Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris
Madame Grès was compared by her contemporaries to a nun or an abbess, due to her austerity and rigour. The designer made a name for herself in the 1930s with monastic-inspired designs. Her coats and dresses, often in earth-toned fabrics, featured capelets and hoods reminiscent of Zurbarán's Saint Francis. A book in Madame Grès's library on his work testifies to her interest in the Spanish painter.

Azzedine Alaïa
Tunis (Tunisia), 1935 - Paris (France), 2017
Hooded Capelet and Dress
Autumn-Winter 2014
Wool, elastane, stretch
Paris, Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris
Before he became a fashion designer, Azzedine Alaïa studied sculpture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Tunis. He shares with Madame Grès and Balenciaga, whose creations he collected, a taste for liturgical garments and Spanish painting. Throughout his life, he was particularly fond of Zurbarán and his Saint Francis, as shown by his pieces featuring hooded capelets, but also by his mastery of volume and simplicity.

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Getaria (Spain), 1895 - Xábia (Spain), 1972
Raincoat
Ca. 1967
Cotton
New York, Brooklyn Museum Costume at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Like Madame Grès and Azzedine Alaïa, Cristóbal Balenciaga seems to have partly drawn his inspiration from the history of religious vestments and the work of Zurbarán. The Spanish fashion designer must have been familiar with the painter's art since his youth in the Basque Country. Beyond the reference to the forms of the monastic habit, the sculptural volumes and draping of his creations are very similar to the Saint Francis paintings by Zurbarán.