Balenciaga, the French fashion house founded by the uncompromising Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga, has a great deal to answer for in the fashion world. Currently exhibiting at the Victoria & Albert museum with the Shaping Fashion exhibition, Balenciaga has been keeping the bar raised for fashion since 1918. Cristobal's ultra feminine styles, bubble dresses, stand-away collars, bracelet sleeves, tailored shapes and luxurious draping have been admired and commissioned for high end catwalk couture as well as Spanish royals, A-list celebrities from Jackie Kennedy to Nicole Kidman and Kylie Minogue, inspiring rival Christian Dior and fathering further couture houses, notably Oscar de la Renta and most recently Roksana Ilincic.

Fast forward to today, and we are still - nearly 100 years on - surrounded by Balenciaga. Particularly inspiring to us here at Saint Bustier are the bell sleeves, nipped waist-lines, hourglass shapes and stand-away collars that are all incredibly flattering for both slender and curvy physiques alike, and these styles have been adopted by designers and high street shops world-wide.

The iconic Bell Sleeve dress authored by Balenciaga and picked up by international designers recently made an absolute furore around the world, and we've been to the V&A ourselves to check out the detail, the strong back zip, the pleat details and the exquisite tailoring of Balenciaga's show-piece magenta pink bell-sleeve dress.