Coal and Velvet explores the romantic vision and the artistic reinterpretations of the great 20th-century couturier Cristobal Balenciaga and the narrative photography of Ortiz Echague. The book shows 80 haute couture costumes based on traditional Spanish costume alongside photographs which portray the life and landscape of old Spain. The title of the book represents the two faces of traditional attire - dressing for daily work and dressing for celebrations and special occasions. It connects the historic black of Spanish clothing - the black of a thousand shades so recurrent in Balenciaga's designs - with the textured black in the photographic techniques used by Echague. The book was used as the official catalogue of the exhibition of the same name which ran at the Cristobal Balenciaga Museum in San Sebastian from late 2016 to May 2017.