Balenciaga is a luxury fashion house founded in 1919 by the Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga in San Sebastian, Spain, and bought afterward by the French luxury group Kering. Balenciaga had a reputation as a couturier of uncompromising standards and was called "the master of us all" by Christian Dior. His bubble skirts and odd, feminine, yet "modernistic" silhouettes became the house's trademarks. Balenciaga closed in 1972 and was reopened under new ownership in 1986. Owned by Kering, Balenciaga headquarters are based in Paris.