Danielle Slavik, Model for Cristóbal Balenciaga, Dead at 81
Lily Templeton
Danielle Slavik in the Balenciaga fall 2022 couture
Danielle Slavik, a house model for Cristóbal
Balenciaga from 1964 until he hung up his scissors for good in 1968, died last Sunday in Paris at age 81.
Her death was revealed Wednesday in French newspaper Le Figaro.
A veteran model whose career after
Balenciaga spanned 20 years working for the likes of Chanel, Madame Grès and Hubert de Givenchy, Slavik was coaxed out of retirement by
Demna, then the creative director of Balenciaga, for his second couture collection in 2022.
Speaking to reporters after his swan song couture show for Balenciaga on July 9 — he is now the creative director of Gucci in Milan —
Demna commended Slavik for making him feel worthy of the job, as if she was dispatched by the founder to encourage him.
“She told me the most beautiful things about my work and my creativity and the links that she saw in me with Cristóbal Balenciaga, but she also justified me being there,” he said. “So all the hate, all the comparisons, all the whatevers, they became insignificant compared to her.
“I have to say thank you to Danielle for that, and I will be forever grateful for this person,” he continued. “She was the most beautiful person I encountered in the 10 years here. It really changed my professional and also personal life.”
A Parisian of Czech descent, Slavik was born on March 29, 1944, in the French capital. She told WWD in 2022 she had fallen into modeling by chance when she accompanied a friend to a casting call advertised in a French newspaper, and was hired on the spot.
The pay was modest — she recalled asking for 1,500 francs a month — and the hours long, from morning to evening, with daily fashion shows at 3:30 p.m. that lasted two hours. But she said it was “love at first sight” when she encountered Cristóbal Balenciaga, whom Christian Dior dubbed “the master of us all.”
She went on to work for four years for the Spanish couturier, whom she described as “a very benevolent, very generous man.”
They stayed in touch until his death in 1972, she told fashion historian Alexandre Samson to accompany a 2020 donation of Givenchy haute couture dresses to Paris’ Palais Galliera fashion museum and recorded in the museum’s database.
When Balenciaga shuttered in 1968, she was recruited by Hubert de Givenchy and became friends with the designer, who asked her to wear his designs when attending events.
In 1971, she went to work for Chanel shortly after the death of founder Gabrielle Chanel. When she was asked to cut her hair short in 1976, she quit and joined Madame Grès, a position she kept until 1979, according to her Palais Galliera interview.
At the age of 40, she left fashion altogether to focus on volunteering, notably with Fondation Claude Pompidou, created in 1970 by then-French First Lady Claude Pompidou to help the elderly, the hospitalized and children with disabilities, and with animal rights groups.
After learning about Slavik during his collection research and having her tracked down by the house’s heritage department, Demna coaxed her on the runway despite her initial reluctance.
“I said, ‘No, it’s not possible — I’m too old. I can’t show my arms; I can’t show my legs,’” she said in an interview after the 2022 show. “But he insisted, and I understood that it was to pay homage to Mr. Balenciaga, so I accepted that, despite my anguish.”
As a thank you, Demna gifted her a replica of a 1966 dress she deemed her “favorite dress in [her] entire modeling career,” a long-sleeved, black velvet number from the winter 1966 haute couture collection that was purchased by Grace Kelly, and worn at her 40th birthday party in Monaco.
Slavik walked once more for the 2023 Balenciaga couture show and continued to attend the brand’s ready-to-wear showcases during Paris Fashion Week. She made her final appearance on the runway for Dutch designer
Peet Dullaert’s fall 2024 couture runway.
In January, she attended the ceremony for
Demna’s induction in France’s Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
A funeral service is planned for Friday in Paris.
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With contributions from Miles Socha
