Branding Moment in Beverly Hills: Balenciaga & Frank Lloyd Wright Building!

We mentioned in many of our previous posts,, how the City of Beverly Hills requires a beautiful façade of a store that is being remodeled.  The facade can be used to promote the brand.

We liked the black and white photo which in our view recalled the history of this luxury brand.  Having a store next to the  three story, Frank Lloyd Wright building, (known as the Anderton Court Shops) which was finished in 1952.  This added to the "gravitas" defined as: Gravitas is associated with ideas of weight, influence, or authority, and also sobriety and seriousness.   This is what we refer to as "borrowed landscape" one historical landmark lending credibility to a brand steeped in historyr.

Pictured above is the new store that Balenciaga is opening on Rodeo Drive.  Cristobal Balenciaga founded the store in 1917, in San Sebastian, Spain.  He later expanded his locations to Barcelona and Madrid.  His innovative designs led him to Paris, when he had to close the Spanish stores during the Spanish Civil War. 

During the WWII people risked their lives by traveling to Europe just to see his fashion shows.  In 1972, he closed his stores and the brand lay dormant until 1986.  One of his many students or protégés was famed designer Hubert de Givenchy, (favorite designer of Audrey Hepburn).