this old house; What's in Balenciaga's basement.

Byline: Sarah Mower

When Diane Kruger turned up on the arm of Nicolas Ghesquiere at the Met Costume Ball, she was wearing a dress with the kind of unidentifiable mystique that sends fashion-watchers into a frenzy of guesswork. In champagne satin, with a swathed wrap-over bodice, it didn't compute as a recognizable runway dress from any recent collection. Must be vintage, then? Half right. The sculpted charmeuse gown turned out to be a remake of a 1932 Cristobal Balenciaga original, the first public outing for an ever-so-quietly rereleased series of pieces selected by Ghesquiere from the incredible trove of riches kept under lock and key in the basement of Balenciaga's headquarters.

"Balenciaga is a house with a heritage we are beginning to explore," Ghesquiere says, when asked how this new/old project-labeled Balenciaga.Edition-came about. The archive is a private playground in which Ghesquiere can decade-hop at will, bringing together contrasting aspects of Cristobal's oeuvre in the new tiny collection, season by season. It consists of more than 500 original samples made between 1932 and 1968, reverently preserved under canvas covers and labeled with the name of the premier d'atelier-as well as hats, shoes, and an incredible trove of jewelry. Ghesquiere's last show revealed the first clue that he might reissue historic looks. "I had an idea about doing bigger volume for fall," says ...