to eternal style of late alaia
Thursday 30 January 2025
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

Paris show pays homage

To 'eternal style' of late Alaia

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today To 'eternal style' of late Alaia

Some of Azzedine Alaia dresses are going on display
Paris - Egypt Today

Two months after legendary designer Azzedine Alaia's sudden death plunged the fashion world into mourning, an exhibition in homage to the "King of Cling" opens Monday in his studios in Paris.

The Tunisian-born designer, renowned for the way his clothes hugged the body, died suddenly in November aged 82, reportedly of heart failure after falling down the stairs at his home.

The diminutive maverick, who ignored fashion week convention by showing when and where he wanted, in July produced his first couture collection in six years to rapturous reviews.

Now some of his most iconic dresses are going on display in the glass-roofed gallery next to his studio and home in the Marais district where he used to show his creations.

It includes the dress worn by supermodel Naomi Campbell, his longtime friend and muse, when she led his last collection down the catwalk.

The pair were so close Campbell called the designer "Papa", and she was inconsolable at his funeral in Tunis.

Alaia studied to be a sculptor and used his fine art training to sculpt with needle and thread.

Fashion historian Olivier Saillard, who has curated the show which runs until June, said Alaia's famously flattering cut was timeless.

To hammer the point home, none of the dresses in "Azzedine Alaia: I am a Couturier" have a panel explaining when they were made.

"I defy anyone to distinguish between a dress made in 1981, 1995 or 2017," he told AFP.

Instead curious visitors must consult a catalogue at the door.

- 'Last of the couturiers' -

Saillard described Alaia as the "last of the couturiers", capable of doing everything himself and making his mastery invisible.

"Like Balenciaga and all those who knew how to cut and sew, he moved further and further away from making an obvious show of his brilliant technique."

He said his clothes "didn't shout, there was nothing bling about them", instead he went for an eternal style that never went out of fashion.

Almost all the dresses in the show -- including ones he made for pop star and actress Grace Jones -- are in black or white.

"Alaia used to say that you can make an idea more precise in black and not dilute it," Saillard said.

The famous hooded dress he made for Jones and the fire brigade-red zip one he created for pop superstar Rihanna are among the 41 classic dresses on display.

Although his private life was always a mystery, the designer kept an open house in Paris during fashion weeks as celebrities rubbed shoulders with students and waifs and strays at his large kitchen table where he cooked for all comers.

Alaia moved to Paris at the height of the Algerian war of independence, where he soon got a job with Christian Dior, only to be let go because he did not have the right immigration papers.

Despite the setback, he moved on to work with Guy Laroche and Thierry Mugler before going out on his own with his own wealthy clientele.

A foundation has now been created to safeguard his work, and will also hold regular exhibitions from his vast personal collection of couture.

A retrospective of his work, "Azzedine Alaia, The Couturier", will open at the Design Museum in London in May, when his brand will also open its first British boutique.

Source:AFP

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

to eternal style of late alaia to eternal style of late alaia



GMT 08:14 2012 Wednesday ,14 March

Park Inn by Radisson Muscat awarded

GMT 12:35 2011 Monday ,28 November

Egypt U-23 victorious in Marrakech

GMT 11:56 2012 Friday ,02 March

Nationwide: house prices up by 0.6% in Feb

GMT 11:42 2017 Thursday ,10 August

VP attends Oaks stakes at Epsom Downs Racecourse

GMT 11:45 2016 Monday ,27 June

Ireland take suprise halftime lead over France

GMT 09:13 2017 Friday ,29 December

Bitcoin falls on S.Korea curbs

GMT 14:56 2017 Tuesday ,26 December

Oman shares end lower amid thin trading

GMT 09:03 2017 Saturday ,16 December

Saudi to open a new export bank

GMT 19:50 2015 Monday ,23 February

170,000 job opportunities provided since March 2013

GMT 10:59 2013 Monday ,02 December

Water decontamination system in trouble

GMT 18:50 2012 Monday ,20 February

Ryder to take on SA after injury

GMT 07:40 2017 Wednesday ,29 November

Small Catalan companies tempted to relocate

GMT 13:19 2017 Sunday ,22 January

Oman shares rise on improved trading activity

GMT 15:37 2018 Sunday ,25 November

Fahm Al Salami hails Bahrain's successful polls

GMT 11:40 2018 Wednesday ,26 September

Government Treasury Bills issue 1723 oversubscribed

GMT 23:58 2011 Thursday ,08 September

One day

GMT 11:13 2016 Monday ,04 July

Eid in UAE demonstrates customs, traditions

GMT 21:26 2016 Thursday ,01 September

US journalist Lindsey Snell detained in Turkey

GMT 01:49 2017 Saturday ,28 January

6 years after uprising, El-Sisi’

GMT 10:44 2016 Thursday ,13 October

Coke, Pepsi fund health groups but fight them too

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday