Azzedine Alaïa

Azzedine Alaïa (French: [azedin alaja]; Arabic: عز الدين عليّة, romanized: ʿIzz ad-Dīn ʿAlayya, pronounced [ʕizz adˈdiːn ʕaˈlajja]; 26 February 1935 – 18 November 2017) was a Tunisian couturier and shoe designer. He became globally known particularly beginning in the 1980s for his women fashion dresses and he would dress numerous famous celebrities throughout his career.
Alaïa was born in Tunis, on 26 February 1935. His parents were wheat farmers, but his glamorous twin sister, Hafida, inspired his love for couture. A French friend of his mother, Mrs. Pineau, fed Alaïa's instinctive creativity with copies of Vogue. When he was 15 years old he lied about his age to get into the Tunis Institute of Fine Arts, a local school of fine arts in Tunis, where he gained valuable insights into the human form and began studying sculpture. He worked as an assistant to Madame Richard, a Tunisian seamstress, and with this he paid for his sisters school tuition fees.
In June 1956, he went to Paris and began an internship at the Christian Dior workshops. However, he was fired after four days. In 1958, he began working for Guy Laroche for three seasons. Afterwards, he continued making clothes for high-society Tunisians and others. In 1965, he created the prototype for the Mondrian dresses in Yves Saint Laurent's Mondrian collection.
He opened his first atelier in his small rue de Bellechasse apartment in 1979. It was in this tiny atelier that for almost 20 years he privately dressed members of the world's jet set, from Marie-Hélène de Rothschild to Louise de Vilmorin (who would become a close friend) to Greta Garbo, who used to come incognito for her fittings. He took apart old garments designed by Madeleine Vionnet and Cristóbal Balenciaga to study how they were made up, and then, he put them back together. He maintained a friendship with former employer Thierry Mugler and also befriended Claude Montana. All would influence each other and would often be mentioned in the same breath during the 1980s.
He produced his first ready-to-wear collection in 1980 and moved to larger premises on rue du Parc-Royal in the Marais district. His career skyrocketed when two of the most powerful fashion editors of the time, Melka Tréanton of Dépèche Mode and Nicole Crassat of French Elle, supported him in their editorials following that collection, with both fashion writers and the public particularly embracing a pair of his grommeted black leather gauntlet gloves, gloves being a particular love of the designer.
Later in 1980, while interior designer Andrée Putman was walking down Madison Avenue with one of the first Alaïa leather coats, she was stopped by a Bergdorf Goodman buyer who asked her what she was wearing, which began a turn of events that lead to his designs being sold in New York City and in Beverly Hills. When his clothes finally arrived in New York, first at Bergdorf Goodman in 1982, it was considered so momentous that The New York Times later listed it as among the landmark events that altered the cultural landscape of the city. Three years later, 10,000 fans vied for 1,500 tickets to his first US showing in the city at the recently opened Palladium, for whom Alaïa had provided the wait staff's uniforms.
Bucking a trend of the time and very unlike his close friend Thierry Mugler, Alaïa normally eschewed huge arenas, circus tents, and spectacles for his presentations, keeping instead to traditional, sedate salon showings of strictly limited attendance and a handful of garments, which he showed on his own schedule, not conforming to the "fashion week" blitzkrieg of shows other designers put on twice a year. If he was tired out from a particularly successful season of high sales and consequent heavy workload, he might not show at all the following season.
Alaïa's designs were known for their very tight fit, deft tailoring, curve-accenting seaming, leather work, and inventive use of knits. The colors he favored tended to the somber, mostly neutrals and earthtones, his masterful cut and blatant body promotion carrying the impact. In his early years on his own, he favored the broad shoulders that were part of the revival of 1940s styles begun on an industry-wide scale in 1978 and famously exaggerated by his friends Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana. His body emphasis outdid that of his colleagues, though, becoming his signature. Though he mostly relied on fit, cut, and seaming to reveal the body, by the early nineties he was incorporating corselets and bust wiring.
He was very influential during the 1980s, with many designers copying his voluptuous silhouette, particularly his brilliantly executed undulating peplums of 1985, an almost direct lift from styles shown in 1935 by Alix, who had in turn been interpreting traditional Balinese ceremonial dress. Another of his mid-1980s contributions, the bandage dress, was adopted in the 1990s with great success by designer Hervé Léger as that designer's own signature style.
Alaïa was voted Best Designer of the Year and Best Collection of the Year at the Oscars de la Mode by the French Ministry of Culture in 1984 in a memorable event where Jamaican singer Grace Jones carried him in her arms on stage.
By 1988, he had opened his own boutiques in New York City and Beverly Hills and in Paris. His seductive, clinging clothes were a massive success and he was named by the media 'The King of Cling'. Devotees included both fashion-inclined celebrities and fashionistas: Grace Jones (wearing several of his creations in A View to a Kill), Tina Turner, Raquel Welch, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Brigitte Nielsen, Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour, Tatiana Sorokko, Shakira, Franca Sozzani, Isabelle Aubin, Carine Roitfeld, and Carla Sozzani.
While his style and craftsmanship were praised by many, he did not escape criticism. He was part of a cohort of designers who began in 1978 to revive the revealing, man-focused styles of the 1940s and 1950s, after a period during the late 1960s and '70s when women's clothes had become less constricting, less focused on flirtatious coquetry, more natural, comfortable, and practical. Some saw the tight skirts, molded busts, cinched waists, and ultra-high heels of Mugler, Montana, Alaïa, and a number of others as regressive, a mockery of women's recently won liberation from male dictates. Others saw Alaïa's clothes in particular as wearable only by those with perfect bodies, and even then not necessarily the most flattering. Alaïa and his supporters of course differed, the designer himself stating that even full-figured women looked good in his clothes and others noting that fitted clothes had renewed appeal after a decade when loose, flowing clothes had been the norm.
In 1991, Alaïa collaborated with the French budget retail chain Tati (company), creating a mini-collection using the brand’s signature pink-and-white vichy check print. The collaboration, which included bags, espadrilles and T-shirts for Tati as well as couture pieces incorporating the same motif, is widely recognized as one of the earliest examples of a high fashion–mass market partnership. It was not conceived for publicity but rather as an homage to the accessibility of fashion and remains a culturally significant moment in his career.
During the mid-1990s, following the death of his sister, Alaïa virtually vanished from the fashion scene; however, he continued to cater to a private clientele and enjoyed commercial success with his ready-to-wear lines. He presented his collections in his own space, in the heart of the Marais, where he brought his creative workshop, boutique and showroom together under one roof.
In 1996 he participated at the Biennale della Moda in Florence, where along with paintings by longtime friend Julian Schnabel, he exhibited an outstanding dress created for the event. Schnabel-designed furniture, as well as his large-scale canvases, still decorate Alaïa's boutique in Paris.
He then signed a partnership with the Prada group in 2000. Working with Prada saw him through a second impressive renaissance, and in July 2007, he successfully bought back his house and brand name from the Prada group, though his footwear and leather goods division continues to be developed and produced by the group. In 2007, the Richemont group, which owns Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, took a stake in his fashion house but he still does not show during the collections.
However, Alaïa still refused the marketing-driven logic of luxury conglomerates, continuing to focus on clothes rather than "it-bags". Alaïa is revered for his independence and passion for discreet luxury. Catherine Lardeur, the former editor-in-chief of French Marie Claire in the 1980s, who also helped to launch Jean-Paul Gaultier's career, stated in an interview to Crowd Magazine that "Fashion is dead. Designers nowadays do not create anything, they only make clothes so people and the press would talk about them. The real money for designers lie within perfumes and handbags. It is all about image. Alaïa remains the king. He is smart enough to not only care about having people talk about him. He only holds fashion shows when he has something to show, on his own time frame. Even when Prada owned him he remained free and did what he wanted to do."
Throughout his life he worked in collaboration with various artists and creators, among them the German photographer Peter Lindbergh with whom he formed a surprising pair: Alaïa was tiny and Lindbergh was huge. The two shared a close friendship with Vogue Italia director Franca Sozzani. Also a way of conceiving beauty and aesthetics: the favorite color of the two was black, they also had Naomi Campbell and Tatjana Patitz as their favorite models, and they both wanted a free woman. About this Alaïa said:
On 18 November 2017, it was announced Alaia had died in Paris. He was 82 years old. His remains were flown to Tunisia two days later where Alaïa received an Islamic funeral and was buried in the town of Sidi Bou Said.
British Vogue editor, Edward Enninful, stated that "Azzedine Alaïa was a true visionary, and a remarkable man. He will be deeply missed by all of those who knew and loved him, as well as by the women around the world who wore his clothes." He was considered a father figure to Naomi Campbell since she was 16 years old. She was among the crowd who attented Alaïa's funeral.
Alaïa was honored with a solo exhibition at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands in 1998, which debuted at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2000 and curated by Mark Wilson and Jim Cook. In the United States, his clothes are available at Barneys New York alongside Lanvin, Balenciaga, and Dolce & Gabbana, and his shoes are sold at Bergdorf Goodman. Carine Roitfeld was photographed during February 2007 Fashion Week in one of his coats, with The New York Times declaring that she was the only woman at any of the fall 2007 shows who "looked like the future." Victoria Beckham stated that Alaïa is her favourite designer and wore the designer's work, a gift from husband David Beckham, to two Academy Award parties in February 2007.
Alaïa was referenced in the mid-'90s teen hit Clueless starring Alicia Silverstone. Silverstone's character, mugged at gunpoint in the film, protests kneeling in a parking lot in a famously clingy dress by the "totally important designer" by exclaiming, "This is an Alaïa!"
Marion Cotillard wore an Alaïa gown in a photoshoot for the French issue of Elle magazine in May 2005. In June 2009, she wore an Alaïa black dress for a photoshoot for the French magazine Madame Figaro. In March 2010, she wore a black Alaïa dress in a photoshoot for Jalouse magazine. On 27 November 2012, she wore an Alaïa black and white pleated dress while attending a luncheon for her film Rust and Bone at Brasserie Ruhlmann in New York City. Cotillard also attended a screen talk at the BFI Southbank wearing the same dress.
Michelle Obama is a regular Alaïa client. The First Lady wore a formal black knit sleeveless dress with a ruffled skirt designed by Alaïa to the NATO dinner with heads of state in Strasbourg, France, on 3 April 2009. Also in 2009, Michelle Obama wore an Alaïa dress to the American Ballet Theatre's opening-night Spring Gala in New York. Her choice of fashion by the Tunisian couturier broke with the tradition of American First Ladies who had worn only the clothes of American designers to such events.
The former First Lady of France, Carla Bruni, also wore an Alaïa jacket during the state visit to Spain in 2009.
Madonna also honored him in her 1993 "Bad Girl" video. She rips the plastic off her dry cleaned suit, the tag of which reads "Alaïa."
Alaïa was named a Knight in France's Legion of Honour by the French government in 2008. He notedly refused the honour stating "I refused because I don’t like decorations — except on women." He turned down many other similar awards stating that the best honour was the citizenship that France had given him.
Lady Gaga has also worn several of his creations, notably in her Thanksgiving special, when she wore a long fall 2011 dress.
Rihanna has worn his creations as well, notably at the 2013 Grammys.
His creations have also been worn by Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Victoria Beckham, Kim Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow, Solange Knowles, Behati Prinsloo and more.
During an interview with The Ground Social & Magazine (formerly known as Virgine), Alaïa criticised both Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld. Alaïa, then 71 and based in Paris, said of Chanel creative director Lagerfeld, "I don't like his fashion, his spirit, his attitude. It's too much caricature. Karl Lagerfeld never touched a pair of scissors in his life." Alaïa also lashed out at the Vogue editor-in-chief: "She runs the business very well, but not the fashion part. When I see how she is dressed, I don't believe in her tastes one second... Anyway, who will remember Anna Wintour in the history of fashion? No one."
In 2018, Alaia was mentioned by Mariah Carey in her song "A No No" from the album Caution: "Got a pink gown custom by Alaia".
On 10 May 2018, a dedicated retrospective exhibition in celebration of Alaïa took place at the Design Museum in London.
The movie director Julian Schnabel dedicated his movie At Eternity's Gate to Azzedine Alaïa.