Azzedine Alaïa

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Azzedine Alaïa company logo (2015)

Azzedine Alaïa (born February 26 or June 7, 1935 , 1939 or 1940 in Jemmal near Monastir , French Protectorate of Tunisia ; † November 18, 2017 in Paris ) was an internationally known Tunisian fashion designer who lived and worked in Paris.

Alaïa began his fashion career in the 1960s, but only achieved it in the 1980s with his very body- hugging dresses , mostly in black or white , which always accentuate the female silhouette like a "second skin", always timelessly elegant, as " König des Stretches "or" King of Cling "and representatives of the fashionable avant-garde worldwide fame. Its trademarks include the use of leather and stretch material as well as zippers as an ornament in upscale women's fashion. Alaïa, who was referred to in the press as the “last great couturier” (French for “fashion designer”) due to his outstanding craftsmanship , was officially allowed to label his high-priced fashion with the protected term Haute Couture from 2011 . The company Azzedine Alaïa , which he founded in 1979 , which he sold to Prada in 2000 and operated in collaboration with the Richemont Group after it was bought back in 2007 , was a niche brand with annual sales of just over 60 million dollars compared to the major Parisian fashion houses which largely retained its independence in the established fashion industry.

Life

Alaïa was born the son of a wheat farmer in Jemmal, had a twin sister and a younger brother and grew up with his grandparents in Tunis . He did not provide any information about his date of birth, so there are different assumptions about his date of birth. His sister, who had a small studio, taught him to sew. At the age of about 15 he studied sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Tunis for a short time through the mediation of a friend , although he made himself older in order to be accepted at the university. During this time he also completed an apprenticeship as a tailor and worked on creations from French fashion magazines.

After giving up his studies, Alaïa went to France in 1957, where he settled in Paris. He initially worked for a few days as Christian Dior's assistant , before he worked as an assistant for Guy Laroche for two fashion seasons and finally found a job with Thierry Mugler . Alaïa also worked as a babysitter and cook and became the housekeeper of the Marquise de Mazan. From 1960 he was a housekeeper and tailor for the Comtesse de Blégiers for five years . Here he came into contact with the Parisian upper class, for whom he soon began to work. At the end of the 1960s, he moved into an apartment on Rue de Bellechasse in Saint-Germain , which he also used as a studio . His early customers included Louise de Vilmorin , Cécile de Rothschild , Greta Garbo , Claudette Colbert and Arletty , among others . In 1965 he made the prototype of the Mondrian dress . In the late 1970s he designed costumes for the dancers of the Crazy Horse (cabaret) .

A first prêt-à-porter collection for the French fashion designer Charles Jourdan (1883–1976) in 1979 was a failure, as Jourdan rejected the leather and metal collection as “too tough”. In the same year, on the advice of Thierry Mugler, Alaïa established his own brand under his name and opened a studio in the Rue du Parc-Royal in the 3rd arrondissement in 1980 , where he also presented new designs. Publications of his designs in fashion magazines as well as prominent supporters who wore his collections soon led to success. Boutique openings in Paris, New York (1988) and Beverly Hills followed. From 1982 Alaïa's collections were sold at Bergdorf Goodman , in 1985 he moved to Barneys New York , which presented his new designs as part of a fashion show in front of almost 1,200 guests at the Palladium . Alaïa offered young models a place to stay in his apartment and is considered the discoverer of supermodels such as Stephanie Seymour , Naomi Campbell and Veronica Webb .

In 1988, the designer bought a former BHV warehouse building on Rue de la Verrerie with access from Rue de Moussy in the Marais district of Paris . There he subsequently set up an Alaïa boutique in addition to his studio, a showroom, a hotel and his private apartment. The studio of his long-term partner and business partner, the Hamburg painter Christoph von Weyhe, was in the immediate vicinity. During this time, Alaïa made only for his most loyal customers and showed his models to a hand-picked audience in his private rooms.

Gray dress by Alaïa made of cellulose acetate , 1986/87

At the end of the 1980s, Alaïa's success began to wane, but his fashion and style, to which he remained faithful, were now considered outdated. The first boutiques closed, most recently the location in New York in 1992. Alaïa had already stopped organizing fashion shows in 1991 . After his sister's death in 1992, Alaïa withdrew completely from the limelight. However, in the 1990s he also entered into engagements with mail order companies such as Les 3 Suisses or La Redoute , where Alaïa fashion was offered at low prices. It wasn't until 2000, when he sold his company to Prada , that he put on another fashion show with a new collection. The Alaïa house experienced a renaissance through the partnership with Prada. In 2000, the New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum honored Alaïa with a solo exhibition of his works. In 2007 Alaïa bought back his company from Prada. Three months later, the luxury goods company Richemont invested in Azzedine Alaïa and took over 100% of the company.

In 2007 the designer founded the Association Azzedine Alaïa together with von Weyhe and the Milanese fashion retailer Carla Sozzani in order to keep the archive of his own designs as well as the clothes of other designers such as Paul Poiret , Charles James, Cristobal Balenciaga , Madame Grès , Madeleine Vionnet , Coco Chanel , Claire McCardell or Gilbert Adrian . In 2018, the project under the leadership of Weyhe, Sozzanis and costume curator Olivier Saillard became the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa , based on Rue de la Verrerie.

From 2011 Alaïa was a corresponding member of the Parisian fashion association Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture , whereby he was entitled to carry his creations as Haute Couture . After an eight-year break, he held a public fashion show in his headquarters for the first time in 2011. In 2012, Alaïa signed a 12-year perfume license contract with Shiseido . The first Alaïa perfume was launched in late 2015. At the end of 2013, more than twenty years after the last shop in New York was closed, a freestanding Alaïa boutique opened on three floors in Paris' Rue de Marignan not far from the avenue Montaigne fashion mile. In addition to the two boutique locations in Paris, Alaïa fashion is available at 300 retailers worldwide as of 2014. Azzedine Alaïa employed around 75 people in 2013.

A total of three times, under Mitterrand , Chirac and Sarkozy , Alaïa was to be made Knight of the French Legion of Honor , which he refused each time.

Alaïa died of a heart attack in Paris on November 18, 2017 .

Richemont decided not to appoint a new chief designer, but left the design of the drafts to the 30-strong studio team from Alaïa. In January 2018 the retrospective Azzedine Alaïa: Je Suis Couturier was inaugurated in the house of the designer in Paris. At the end of April 2018, Richemont opened an Alaïa boutique on Bond Street in London, which had been planned while the designer was still alive. The interior was designed by Marc Newson , a close friend of Alaïa's, who had already worked on the design of the Paris boutiques. In May 2018, the Design Museum London opened the exhibition Azzedine Alaïa: the Couturier , which was planned together with the designer in 2017.

Act

The fashion press became aware of Alaïa as early as the late 1970s: In 1979 Elle magazine showed a coat that Alaïa had designed for Les Fourrures de la Madeleine . He became internationally known the following year with the model of a perforated and riveted oversize patent leather coat, which was shown in the fashion magazine Dépêche Mode . This was followed in 1981 by a now iconic black zip dress, inspired by a top worn by Arletty's character in the film Hotel du Nord . The model of a magenta, skin-tight latex dress for Grace Jones on the occasion of the French Ministry of Culture's award for Designer of the Year, which had a leg slit that reached to the thigh and had to be laced like a corset, finally caused a sensation - “It seemed as if the fashion designer was having pure sex processed into fabric. ”Alaïa's dress, based on the French flag , was also known and controversial for Jessye Norman , which he created on the occasion of the bicentenary of the French Revolution in 1989 for a public appearance by the singer.

Alaïa's trademark is “the second skin with which he seems to dissolve the boundaries between body and fabric”: his designs are tight and figure-hugging, “provocatively sexy and play with the erotic charm of concealing and exposing, of tight-fitting stretching and lifting”. He sometimes heated leather with steam to adapt it perfectly to the female shape. The diagonal cut often used by Alaïa allows the wearer freedom of movement and pays homage to Alaïa's role model Madeleine Vionnet . He worked with materials such as lycra , latex, stretch, ( patent ) leather and jersey, which were largely unusual and "shocking" at the beginning of his career . Frequent accessories, especially in the beginning, were buckles and hole patterns, supplemented by push-up bras, integrated panties and bodies that additionally shaped the figure. At Alaïa, the body has priority over trends. As a “fabric sculptor” he creates “living female sculptures: breathtaking, chiseled silhouettes” with his fashion. Since the 1990s, however, his designs had become increasingly more moderate and timeless.

Alaïa was given nicknames such as "King of Cling" (for example "King of the adhesive film"), "King of stretch" and, due to his small height of 1.58 meters, also "the little prince" because of his designs.

Public and popular culture

Michelle Obama in 2009 in an Alaïa cardigan
Michelle Obama in 2014 in a two-part by Alaïa

Alaïa consciously placed herself outside the fashion industry. In the first model, he made his designs completely himself and draped the previously selected and cut fabric on the living model. He produced his collections without fixed dates, did not present them at major fashion shows during the international fashion weeks and only rarely in front of the press. He largely did without advertising, entered into no license agreements except for the perfume business from 2012 and did not offer a separate line of accessories. Alaïa was considered a tireless perfectionist who sometimes postponed entire fashion shows when the individual designs did not seem to him to be completely successful.

In addition to the Parisian upper class, his customers initially included rather eccentric artists, including Grace Jones , Madonna and Tina Turner . He had previously designed dresses for Greta Garbo , Cécile de Rothschild and Claudette Colbert . Victoria Beckham is an admirer of his work, as is Lady Gaga . Michelle Obama wore a black knitted dress by Alaïa at the NATO dinner with heads of state in Strasbourg in April 2009; further official appearances in clothes of the designer followed. In doing so, she broke a tradition according to which American first ladies only wear clothes by American designers on official occasions.

Alaïa created the costumes for Jones' character May Day in James Bond 007 . Alaïa secured “an immortal place in collective memory” in Robert Palmer's controversial music video for Addicted to Love in 1986 : he designed the black knitted dresses for the singer's five-member female band. In the video for Bad Girl , singer Madonna removes the film around a black Alaïa suit that she took from the dry cleaner. Also in the film Clueless - What Else! there is an allusion to Alaïa: The character portrayed by Alicia Silverstone refuses to kneel in a parking lot in a scene in which she is threatened with a gun because she is wearing a dress by Alaïa. In 2013, Alaïa created the costumes for the performance of The Marriage of Figaro at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and also created men's clothing for the first time. In the same year, the exhibition Alaïa - Azzedine Alaïa in the 21st century took place at the NRW Forum in Düsseldorf and a large Alaïa retrospective took place in the Musée Galliera in Paris .

In 1984, Jean-Paul Goude created a “legendary… fashion photography” in which the 1.58-meter-tall Alaïa jumps into the open arms of the Franco-Algerian supermodel Farida Khelfa . Goude had made Farida and Alaïa known, which the latter finally chose to be his muse.

In 2011 Alaïa criticized his colleague Karl Lagerfeld for his diverse activities in the areas of fashion, photography and advertising and from 2009 was in dispute with the influential editor-in-chief of the American Vogue , Anna Wintour , whose importance for the fashion industry he questioned.

Exhibitions

literature

  • Azzedine Alaïa . Steidl, Göttingen 1999. ISBN 978-3882435368 . Voluminous illustrated book.
  • Azzedine Alaïa . In: Terry Jones, Susie Rushton (Eds.): Fashion Now . Taschen, Cologne 2006, pp. 14–15.
  • Alaïa, Azzedine . In: Ingrid Loschek: ModeDesigner. A dictionary from Armani to Yamamoto . 3. Edition. Beck, Munich 2007, pp. 11-13.
  • Azzedine Alaïa . In: Simone Werle: 50 fashion designers you should know . Prestel, Munich 2010, pp. 81–82.
  • Azzedine Alaïa - body fashion . In: Paula Reed: 50 Fashion Looks of the 80s . Prestel, Munich 2013, pp. 64–65.
  • Alfons Kaiser: Azzedine Alaïa gets an exhibition and a foundation, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin, October 2019, p. 14.

Web links

Commons : Azzedine Alaïa  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Laurence Benaïm: Azzedine Alaïa, le Prince des lignes . Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris 2013, p. 77.
  2. ↑ Azzedine Alaïa. In: Simone Werle: 50 fashion designers you should know. Prestel, Munich 2010, p. 81.
  3. ↑ Azzedine Alaïa, Fashion's Most Independent Designer, Is Dead at 82 . nytimes.com, November 18, 2017
  4. ↑ Le couturier Azzedine Alaïa est mort , Vanity Fair, November 18, 2017
  5. ↑ Master of the Silhouettes: Azzedine Alaïa ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , otto.de, November 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.otto.de
  6. ↑ Couturier Azzedine Alaïa: "I am restless in the night" , zeit.de, May 11, 2010
  7. ^ Fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa - In the hands of women , zeit.de, September 26, 2013
  8. ^ Couturier Azzedine Alaïa: "I am restless in the night" , sueddeutsche.de, May 11, 2010
  9. ↑ Richemont will finance Alaïa foundation , nytimescom, October 7, 2007
  10. ^ Art of Perfection | Azzedine Alaïa , nytimes.com, February 15, 2013
  11. ↑ Mode from the Off , faz.net, June 23, 2013
  12. ↑ a b c d e f g Amy Fine Collins: All Eyes on Alaïa . vanityfair.com, August 22, 2012.
  13. ↑ a b c d Jina Khayyer: In the hands of a woman . In: zeit.de, September 26, 2013.
  14. ↑ a b c Azzedine Alaïa . In: Terry Jones, Susie Rushton (Eds.): Fashion Now . Taschen, Cologne 2006, p. 14.
  15. ↑ a b c d Azzedine Alaïa . In: Simone Werle: 50 fashion designers you should know . Prestel, Munich 2010, p. 81.
  16. ↑ King of the Curves , spiegel.de, November 11, 1985
  17. ↑ La pension alimentaire La fondation Azzedine Alaïa . paris-promeneurs.com, 2018
  18. ↑ Does Azzedine Alaïa have the antidote to a relentless fashion system? , businessoffashion.com, 2011
  19. ↑ Lauren Goldstein Crowe: Paris Fashion Week: Alaia and Richemont . upstart.bizjournals.com, October 8, 2007.
  20. ↑ Keeping Alaïa Alive: A Designer Died, but His Brand Did Not . nytimes.com, January 20, 2018
  21. ^ Julia Robson: Paris Haute Couture: Azzedine Alaia's couture debut shrouded in secrecy. (No longer available online.) Fashion.telegraph.co.uk, archived from the original on Aug. 12, 2014 ; Retrieved July 7, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / fashion.telegraph.co.uk
  22. ↑ Silvia Ihring: “I don't get tired of work. I work non-stop ” . welt.de, September 26, 2013.
  23. ↑ Alaia for the Second , welt.de, September 30, 2013
  24. ↑ a b c Heidi Goldsmith: Azzedine Alaia . Soma Magazine , Vol. 27, No. 3, May / June 2013.
  25. ^ Couturier Azzedine Alaïa: "I am restless in the night" , sueddeutsche.de, May 11, 2010
  26. ↑ Fashion sculptor . faz.net, November 19, 2017
  27. ↑ Monument to the couturier Azzedine Alaïa . welt.de, January 22, 2018
  28. ↑ A Powerful Alaïa Exhibit Captures the Designer's Spirit And signals the future of the brand. . thecut.com, January 22, 2018
  29. ↑ Maison Alaïa Opens London Flagship Store . vogue.co.uk, April 17, 2018
  30. ^ Opening Alaïa's self-curated show after the loss of the designer himself . cnn.com, April 27, 2018
  31. ^ The Design Museum Honors Azzedine Alaïa With A New Exhibition . vogue.co.uk, December 14, 2017
  32. ↑ a b Azzedine Alaïa - body fashion . In: Paula Reed: 50 Fashion Looks of the 80s . Prestel, Munich 2013, p. 64.
  33. ↑ a b Alaïa, Azzedine . In: Ingrid Loschek: ModeDesigner. A dictionary from Armani to Yamamoto . 3. Edition. Beck, Munich 2007, p. 11.
  34. ↑ a b c Alaïa, Azzedine . In: Ingrid Loschek: ModeDesigner. A dictionary from Armani to Yamamoto . 3. Edition. Beck, Munich 2007, p. 12.
  35. ↑ Jina Khayyer: "I am restless in the night" . sueddeutsche.de, May 11, 2010.
  36. ↑ All Eyes on Alaïa , vanityfair.com, August 23, 2012
  37. ↑ Alaïa, Azzedine . In: Ingrid Loschek: ModeDesigner. A dictionary from Armani to Yamamoto . 3. Edition. Beck, Munich 2007, p. 13.
  38. ↑ The King of the Lionesses , welt.de, December 28, 2011
  39. ↑ Nikolas Feireiss: Azzedine Alaïa: The Master of Curves | ZEITmagazin . In: The time . November 18, 2017, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed November 28, 2017]).
  40. ↑ John Walsh: James Bond: The spy who loved to look cool . In: independent.co.uk, June 30, 2012.
  41. ↑ Full Of Faults , vogue.com, June 23, 2011
  42. ↑ Mode from the off in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on June 10, 2013, page 49
  43. ↑ Bettina Wohlfarth: Let your hands run free . faz.net, April 26, 2015.
  44. ↑ Visit to the studio in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on June 26, 2016, page 46
personal data
SURNAME Alaïa, Azzedine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tunisian fashion designer
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1940 or June 7, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Ever
DATE OF DEATH 18th November 2017
Place of death Paris