Since 2011 the purpose-built Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum [es] has exhibited examples of his work in his birth town Getaria.

[1] His father, José Balenciaga Basurto, was a fisherman who died when Cristóbal was a boy, and his mother, Martina Eizaguirre Embil, a seamstress.

His most famous clients were Mona von Bismarck, Gloria Guinness, Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn, and Jackie Kennedy.

First, he decided to retire from active life in May 1968 and, a few months later, on 1 July, the newspapers broke the news of his headquarters in Paris and his studios in Madrid closing.

He ended his days living in his house in Altea (Alicante), where he enjoyed painting, talking, and eating in the company of some of his Spanish assistants.

[13] The love of his life and his long time partner was Franco-Polish millionaire Władzio Jaworowski d'Attainville, who had helped set him up and fund him.

[15] During the 1950s, designers like Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain, and Coco Chanel emerged, creating pieces very representative to their fashion houses and to their own styles.

He also invented multiple coats under his main line, Balenciaga, and the sister label, Eisa, which featured a back yoke that extended into the under sleeve, and also utilized a similar approach.

The reason behind his relevance still today is "his sense of proportion and measurement, and his vision and interpretation of the female body have anointed him as one of the more influential designers of all time".

Today the Balenciaga fashion house continues under the direction of Cedric Charbit and under the ownership of the Kering group.

After numerous problems and the avoided judicial process about alleged inconsistencies in its management,[25] the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum [es] was inaugurated by Queen Sofía on 7 June 2011, with the presence of Hubert de Givenchy, who was the honorific president of the foundation.

Within these exhibitions and pieces, people can find, like seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), "sculptural silhouettes that the forms of architecture drink from, in the geometric lines of their patterns and also in the set with the volumes that allowed to go without saying as far as unthinkable in 1958, with his babydoll model: inspired in children clothing, the dress left in flotation without pressure to the figure and with total freedom of movement to the user".

Balenciaga's garments accompanied the paintings of Goya, Velázquez, El Greco, Zuloaga, Miró or Picasso, in which they had inspired the designs of the Basque couturier.

In Spain, a namesake exposition was also celebrated, which was installed in the noble living rooms of the Palace of Library and National Museums in Madrid.

On 24 March 2011, M. H. de Young Museum (San Francisco) celebrated the opening of "Balenciaga and Spain", a 120-piece fashion retrospective of his career.

The $2,500-a-ticket fund-raiser for the museum drew 350 guests, including Marissa Mayer, Jamie Tisch, Gwyneth Paltrow, Orlando Bloom, Balthazar Getty, Maggie Rizer, Connie Nielsen, Maria Bello, and Mia Wasikowska.

Cristóbal Balenciaga is a Disney+ biographical drama series starring Alberto San Juan in the titular role.

[36] Javier Rey plays Cristóbal Balenciaga in the Telecinco drama miniseries Lo que escondían sus ojos.