Azzedine Alaïa

Azzedine Alaïa
Azzedine Alaïa, young art student at the Tunis Institute of Fine Arts
Born(1935-02-26)26 February 1935
Tunis, French Tunisia
Died18 November 2017(2017-11-18) (aged 82)
Paris, France
EducationÉcole des Beaux-Arts de Tunis
LabelAlaïa
Awards

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, particularly successful beginning in the 1980s.

Early life

[edit]

Alaïa was born in Tunis, on 26 February 1935.[1] His parents were wheat farmers, but his glamorous twin sister, Hafida, inspired his love for couture.[2] A French friend of his mother, Mrs. Pineau, fed Alaïa's instinctive creativity with copies of Vogue. He lied about his age[3] 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.[4] He worked as a dressmaker with his sister to pay for school supplies.[5]

Career

[edit]
A grey Azzedine Alaïa dress (front), from 1986 to 1987, acetate

After his graduation, Alaïa began working as a dressmaker's assistant. He soon began dressing private clients, and in 1957 he moved to Paris to work in fashion design.[6]

In Paris, he started to work at Christian Dior as a tailleur,[6] but had to leave five days later as the Algerian war broke out,[7] soon moved to work for Guy Laroche for two seasons, then for Thierry Mugler until he opened his first atelier in his little rue de Bellechasse apartment in the late 1970s.[2] It is 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.[8] 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.[6] He maintained a friendship with former employer Thierry Mugler and also befriended Claude Montana.[9] All would influence each other and would often be mentioned in the same breath during the 1980s.[10][11][12]

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,[13][14][15] with both fashion writers and the public particularly embracing a pair of his grommeted black leather gauntlet gloves,[16][17] gloves being a particular love of the designer.[18]

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.[4] When his clothes finally arrived in New York, first at Bergdorf Goodman in 1982,[19] 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.[20] Three years later, 10,000 fans vied for 1,500 tickets to his first US showing in the city at the recently opened Palladium,[21] for whom Alaïa had provided the wait staff's uniforms.[22]

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,[23] which he showed on his own schedule, not conforming to the "fashion week" blitzkrieg of shows other designers put on twice a year.[24] If he was tired out from a particularly successful season of high sales[25] and consequent heavy workload, he might not show at all the following season.[26][27]

Alaïa's designs were known for their very tight fit,[28][29] deft tailoring,[30][31][32] curve-accenting seaming,[33] leather work,[34][35] and inventive use of knits.[36][37] The colors he favored tended to the somber, mostly neutrals and earthtones, his masterful cut and blatant body promotion carrying the impact.[38] In his early years on his own, he favored the broad shoulders[39][40][41][42] 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.[43][44] Though he mostly relied on fit, cut, and seaming to reveal the body,[45] by the early nineties he was incorporating corselets[46] and bust wiring.[47]

He was very influential during the 1980s,[48][49] with many designers copying his voluptuous silhouette,[50][51] particularly his brilliantly executed undulating peplums of 1985,[52][53] an almost direct lift from styles shown in 1935 by Alix, who had in turn been interpreting traditional Balinese ceremonial dress.[54] Another of his mid-1980s contributions, the bandage dress,[55][56] 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[7] 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'.[57] Devotees included both fashion-inclined celebrities and fashionistas: Grace Jones (wearing several of his creations in A View to a Kill),[58] Tina Turner,[6] Raquel Welch,[6] Madonna,[59] Janet Jackson,[60] Brigitte Nielsen,[61] Naomi Campbell,[8] Stephanie Seymour, Tatiana Sorokko, Shakira, Franca Sozzani, Isabelle Aubin, Carine Roitfeld, and Carla Sozzani.[citation needed]

While his style and craftsmanship were praised by many,[62][63] 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,[64][65][66] 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.[67][68][69] Some saw the tight skirts, molded busts, cinched waists, and ultra-high heels of Mugler, Montana, Alaïa, and a number of others as regressive,[70][71][72][73] a mockery of women's recently won liberation from male dictates.[74][75][76][77] Others saw Alaïa's clothes in particular as wearable only by those with perfect bodies, and even then not necessarily the most flattering.[78][79] Alaïa and his supporters of course differed,[80] the designer himself stating that even full-figured women looked good in his clothes[81][82] and others noting that fitted clothes had renewed appeal after a decade when loose, flowing clothes had been the norm.[83]

Black dress by Azzedine Alaïa

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.[4] 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.[2]

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.[84]

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.[2] 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.[85]

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."[86]

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.[87] 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.[88] About this Alaïa said:

"I have always wanted women to be free. I hope my dresses give them that lightness. The greatest compliment is when they look at themselves and say to me: 'I feel free".[87]

Death

[edit]

On 18 November 2017, it was announced Alaia had died in Paris. He was 82 years old.[89][90]

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."[90] He was considered a father figure to Naomi Campbell since she was 16 years old.[91]

Recognition

[edit]
Mini-skirt dress of black acetate jersey, designed by Azzedine Alaïa, Paris, 1985

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[3] 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!"[92]

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.[93]

Michelle Obama is a regular Alaïa client.[94] 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.[95] 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.[96]

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.[97] He notedly refused the honour stating "I refused because I don’t like decorations — except on women.”[98] He turned down many other similar awards stating that the best honour was the citizenship that France had given him.[99]

Lady Gaga has also worn several of his creations, notably in her Thanksgiving special, when she wore a long fall 2011 dress.[100]

Rihanna has worn his creations as well, notably at the 2013 Grammys.[101]

His creations have also been worn by Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Victoria Beckham, Kim Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow, Solange Knowles, Behati Prinsloo and more.[citation needed]

During an interview with The Ground Social & Magazine (formerly known as Virgine), Alaïa crticised 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."[102]

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".[103]

On 10 May 2018, a dedicated retrospective exhibition in celebration of Alaïa took place at the Design Museum in London.[104]

The movie director Julian Schnabel dedicated his movie At Eternity's Gate to Azzedine Alaïa.[105]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ In French : Laurence Benaïm, Azzedine Alaïa, le Prince des lignes, Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle (collection Documents Français), October 2013, Paris, 978-2-246-81055-1, p. 77 "Lui [Azzedine Alaïa], dont les intimes ignorent également la date exacte de son années de naissance. Né un 26 février, […]"
  2. ^ a b c d Laurent Dombrowicz (November 2007). "Fashion Icons, Azzedine Alaïa and Thierry Mugler". Wound Magazine. 1 (1). London: 112. ISSN 1755-800X.
  3. ^ a b "Azzedine Alaïa". Fashion Model Directory. 1999–2007. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  4. ^ a b c Boyd Davis (2001). "Azzedine Alaia". Fashion Windows. Archived from the original on 2007-11-03. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  5. ^ Collins, Amy Fine. "The Figure-Sculpting Fashions of Azzedine Alaïa". Vanities. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  6. ^ a b c d e Kellogg, Ann (2002). In an influential fashion : an encyclopedia of nineteenth-and twentieth-century fashion designers and retailers who transformed dress. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 5. ISBN 0-313-31220-6. OCLC 47216469.
  7. ^ a b Natalia A (2013-01-31). "Azzedine Alaia: 1980s and beyond". Fashioned by Love. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
  8. ^ a b Blanks, Tim (February 2019). "Azzedine Alaïa: The Final Interview". British Vogue. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  9. ^ Russell, Mary (1977-07-01). "Paris Signals". Vogue. USA: 151. Thierry [Mugler] and Claude Montana speak to each other every day...There is no competition among these designers; they all admire each other...
  10. ^ Morris, Bernadine (1985-11-01). "Provocative is the Word for Spring". The New York Times: A22. Retrieved 2021-12-14. [Alaïa] went on to influence the cut of the clothes of his friends Claude Montana and Thierry Mugler. Then he began making clothes under his own name. The key to the work of all three is the slender skirt curved and seamed to outline the contours of the hips.
  11. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1986-03-01). "Bright Spring Fashion Takes a Brave New Direction". Details. IV (8). New York, NY: 90. ISSN 0740-4921. Mugler's earlier signature [science fiction-like, goddess women in fitted clothes]…formed when he and Azzedine Alaia collaborated at the Mugler design house.
  12. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1983". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. p. 382. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. Mugler, Montana, Alaia and others depicted women as a wicked, Hollywood murderess, a bondaged retailer of illicit sex or a Mae West clone.
  13. ^ "Elle Flashback: The Azzedine Alchemy (May 1992)". Fashion.elle.com. 2010-05-03. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2011-07-23.
  14. ^ "Little Big Man". The New York Times. 2006-02-26.
  15. ^ "Figaro.Fr : Archive". Recherche.lefigaro.fr. 2002-05-31. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-23.
  16. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1980". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Press. p. 372. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. Azzedine Alaïa was taken up by the fashion press after a feature appeared on his gauntlet gloves.
  17. ^ McCall, Patricia (1982-09-05). "Fashions: Expanded Horizons for Azzedine Alaïa". The New York Times: 33. Retrieved 2021-12-14. It was a pair of gloves – black kid wrist-length gauntlets with the cuffs completely studded with silver grommets – that pushed Azzedine into his present success. Chic Parisians snapped them up and wore them tucked into their belts or into their pockets.
  18. ^ McCall, Patricia (1982-09-05). "Fashions: Expanded Horizons for Azzedine Alaïa". The New York Times: 33. Retrieved 2021-12-14. Alaia…believes that gloves lend themselves to infinite mysteries: 'Just the gesture of pulling off a glove, or carrying gloves or putting them on the table in front of you – gloves have such personality'.
  19. ^ Hyde, Nina S. (1985-09-06). "Alaia, Paris". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09. Alaia's clothes broke all the store's records for sales by a new designer.
  20. ^ "New York City 1981-1983: 36 Months That Changed the Culture". The New York Times Style Magazine. 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2021-12-14. September 8, 1982: Azzedine Alaïa's body-conscious leather looks arrive at Bergdorf Goodman.
  21. ^ Hyde, Nina S. (1985-09-06). "Alaia, Paris". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09. ...[T]he first public fashion show by this Tunisian-born Paris designer, held at the Palladium in New York..., [was] the town's hottest ticket in years[: o]ver 10,000 requests for the 1,500 places at the show, 900 of them standing room [only]...
  22. ^ Schiro, Anne-Marie (1985-05-21). "Notes on Fashion". The New York Times: A24. Retrieved 2022-06-22. ...[T]he Palladium opened on 14th Street...[T]he Azzedine Alaia uniforms for the...waitresses...have black jersey minidresses with tank tops...
  23. ^ Dryansky, G. Y. (1984-08-12). "Fashion: Emerging from the Shadows of Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-14. He has never presented his work…in circus tents filled with thousands of people. Every season, four times a day for a week, he has given a silent presentation of a small group of clothes – about 80 models these days – for women who buy from him directly, for his shop-owner customers, whose number has grown to 200 worldwide, and for interested journalists.
  24. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1988-09-01). "The Colllllections". Details. VII (4). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 189. ISSN 0740-4921. Azzedine Alaïa again delayed his show for a month after the Paris fashion week.
  25. ^ Gross, Michael (1985-10-29). "Notes on Fashion". The New York Times: A24. Retrieved 2022-04-04. ...Azzedine Alaia's body-hugging fall line is selling out in stores. His hot haute clothes are being copied and worn at every level of fashion.
  26. ^ McCall, Patricia (1982-10-17). "Paris: Hourglass Figuring". The New York Times: 75. Retrieved 2022-04-04. Azzedine Alaia, just back from New York and his first fashion show, claims he won't have a Paris show for spring. 'I'm still recovering from my New York experience,' he says...
  27. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1986-03-01). "Bright Spring Fashion Takes a Brave New Direction". Details. IV (8). New York, NY: 96. ISSN 0740-4921. Azzedine Alaïa's fall/winter success so preoccupied his workrooms that he was unable to present a full spring collection.
  28. ^ Hyde, Nina (1985-03-28). "YSL, Robust and Refined High Hemlines for His Paris Show". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09. Azzedine Alaïa['s]...carefully carved-out dresses and skirts...fitted so close to the body that there's barely enough room for underwear underneath...[Alaïa's] thin jersey dress...seemed glued onto [the model's] body.
  29. ^ Luther, Marylou (1985-10-24). "Fashion". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09. The designer who started the fashion world's fit over fit, Azzedine Alaia...
  30. ^ Dryansky, G. Y. (1984-08-12). "Fashion: Emerging from the Shadows of Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-14. [Alaïa'a] cut…still shows his enduring love of sculpted lines...
  31. ^ Schiro, Anne-Marie (1985-04-17). "Azzedine Alaïa: New Sophistication". The New York Times: 34. Retrieved 2021-12-14. Mr. Alaia is…known for his sexy suits, for cutting his jackets and skirts to provide curves on even the most angular bodies....He…used intricate seaming on the skirts and pants to create the illusion of a tight fit even when the clothes did not cling
  32. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1987-09-01). "Follies to Futurism". Details. VI (3). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 125. ISSN 0740-4921. Azzedine cut a complex structure that let both his woven and stretch cloths fit like custom-made slipcovers, allowing the stretch properties to hug but not squeeze and flatten the body.
  33. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1987-09-01). "Follies to Futurism". Details. VI (3). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 125. ISSN 0740-4921. Alaïa['s]...designs...follow and define the wearer's torso with structural welt seaming."
  34. ^ Hyde, Nina (1985-10-25). "Back to Basic Black – Leather, That Is". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-04-04. ...Azzedine Alaia aficionados wear leather dresses, skirts and coats. (Alaia makes the sexiest leathers...)...
  35. ^ McCall, Patricia (1982-10-17). "Paris: Hourglass Figuring". The New York Times: 75. Retrieved 2022-04-04. ...[T]he stars are his leather suits.
  36. ^ Dryansky, G. Y. (1984-08-12). "Fashion: Emerging from the Shadows of Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-14. Alaia's greatest achievement…has been in knitwear. Here he has applied the draping techniques, the molding of shoulders and armholes that he applied in cloth, and manages to get it all manufactured.
  37. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1989-09-01). "To the Future Through the Past". Details. VIII (3). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 242. ISSN 0740-4921. ...[S]ophisticated stretch fabrics...shape [Alaïa's] knitwear. Newest for fall, tights that start out in solid knit and turn into openwork stockings at the thigh.
  38. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1976-1986". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. pp. 345–346. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. His belief that the body is fundamental to fashion was emphasized by unpatterned, dark, 'mouldable' materials, predominantly wool jersey and leather, though he also enjoyed working with synthetics, especially rayon.
  39. ^ McCall, Patricia (1983-03-20). "Fashion Preview: Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-14. …Azzedine is emphasizing the proportions of a broad-shouldered, long slim jacket over a narrow skirt.
  40. ^ Hyde, Nina (1983-04-03). "Fashion Notes". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-04-04. ...[M]any of the dresses, sweaters and coats are constructed with broad shoulders...
  41. ^ Schiro, Anne-Miro (1985-04-17). "Azzedine Alaïa: New Sophistication". The New York Times: 34. Retrieved 2021-12-14. …[T]he tops of [Alaia's] bodies were broad.
  42. ^ Schiro, Anne-Marie (1985-03-29). "On Paris Streets, Fashion is Up-to-Date". The New York Times: A22. Retrieved 2022-06-22. Azzedine Alaïa's sexy contoured skirts...with broad-shouldered jackets...show off a good figure.
  43. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1976-1986". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. pp. 345–346. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. The overt sexuality of Mugler's clothes was upstaged by his close friend Azzedine Alaia, who virtually carved Paris's latest sex symbol, the outline was so strong….He celebrated the female anatomy, stripping off detail to reveal the raw line of the body.
  44. ^ Dryansky, G. Y. (1984-08-12). "Fashion: Emerging from the Shadows of Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-14. Alaia is said to be the designer who makes the sexiest clothes in the business….[L]ots of his designs are very tight-fitting, and he does like zippers that open onto fleshy, peekaboo mousseline and other provocations of that order.
  45. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1985". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. p. 393. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. Technique rather than artifice was the strength of modern dressing, particularly at Alaia and…Donna Karan.
  46. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1987-09-01). "Follies to Futurism". Details. VI (3). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 142. ISSN 0740-4921. Azzedine moulds the waistline…by cinching the waist in a corselet.
  47. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1990-03-01). "Fashion du Siècle". Details. VIII (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 178. ISSN 0740-4921. Azzedine Alaia's…spring collection…puts a dramatic spotlight on an uplifted wired bra.
  48. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1987-03-01). "The Collections Spring Forward". Details. V (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 110. ISSN 0740-4921. Azzedine Alaia continues to…have an impact on the international fashion scene out of all proportion to the size of his collections.
  49. ^ Hyde, Nina (1985-03-28). "YSL, Robust and Refined High Hemlines for His Paris Show". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09. Azzedine Alaïa['s]...dresses and skirts...have been a major influence on many other designers this season.
  50. ^ Luther, Marylou (1985-10-24). "Fashion". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09. Alaia is the most copied designer in Paris, his work influencing even the most famous names.
  51. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1986-03-01). "Bright Spring Fashion Takes a Brave New Direction". Details. IV (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 90. ISSN 0740-4921. It was a season that saw many major designers in Paris shamelessly copy from the hourglass silhouette of Azzedine Alaia.
  52. ^ "Street Fashion: Peplum Jackets' Flair". The New York Times: 66. 1985-11-17. Retrieved 2022-06-22. ...[I]n New York, Paris and London, the peplum jacket is very much back in style....The version most often seen in Paris is Azzedine Alaia's, with a flaring cut that creates a petal-like effect.
  53. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1986-03-01). "Bright Spring Fashion Takes a Brave New Direction". Details. IV (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 114. ISSN 0740-4921. At Mugler, several of the suede jackets echoed the asymmetric rippling peplums of Alaia's fall [1985] success.
  54. ^ Howell, Georgina (1978). "1935-36". In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0-14-004955-X. Alix's tunic-jacket in gold and blue brocade, with the lilt of a Bali dancer's coat.
  55. ^ Collins, Amy Fine (2012-08-23). "The Figure-Sculpting Fashions of Azzedine Alaïa". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2022-04-04. ...Alaïa won two French fashion 'Oscars' in 1985, surrounded by a bevy of supermodels in his mummy-inspired bandage dress...
  56. ^ Luther, Marylou (1985-10-24). "Fashion". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-04-04. ...Azzedine Alaia...has some new viscose knit dresses for spring that are well on their way to becoming the choicest bondage clothes of the year. They lace up the side of the body in a kind of latticed openwork that bares just the right amount of skin in just the right places.
  57. ^ Cochrane, Lauren (2017-11-20). "The king of cling: Azzedine Alaïa's best looks – in pictures". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  58. ^ Horwell, Veronica (2017-11-20). "Azzedine Alaïa obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  59. ^ Dazed (2017-11-20). "Fashion's biggest names pay tribute to Azzedine Alaïa". Dazed. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  60. ^ Mowbray, Nicole; Pentelow, Orla (2018-04-11). "As Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier opens at the Design Museum, stars remember the King of Cling". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  61. ^ "Azzedine Alaia - Designer Biography". www.fineclothing.com. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  62. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1987-03-01). "The Collections Spring Forward". Details. V (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 110. ISSN 0740-4921. His...designs...are the pinnacle of our epoch...
  63. ^ Gross, Michael (1986-10-24). "Embattled Alaia Unveils a New Look". The New York Times: A22. Retrieved 2022-04-04. ...Alaia, while remaining a master of cut and form, keeps evolving and expanding his scope.
  64. ^ Mount, jr., Roy (1979-01-01). "Fashion". The New York Times: 18. Retrieved 2021-11-15. Fashion has changed its course, from free‐flowing and easy to structured and contrived....Instead of evolving naturally from the kinds of clothes women have been wearing, the spring styles have skipped back over several decades of fashion. They've landed somewhere in the middle of the 1940's, carrying obsolete notions of glamour, sophistication and hard‐edged chic as excess baggage....In many cases, the ease that had made clothes so comfortable was eliminated....[S]houlder pads...added another element of restraint. Linings and stiffer constructions began to reappear....The results have been called sexy by admirers; detractors call the clothes tawdry. Were designers so carried away by one of fashion's golden ages that they simply didn't notice how women had changed? Did they simply run out of ideas? They have succeeded in evoking an epoch in which many women, perhaps the majority, were delighted to dress as sex objects.
  65. ^ Larkin, Kathy (1979-01-01). "Fashion". 1979 Collier's Yearbook Covering the Year 1978. Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. pp. 249–252. In women's fashion, 1978 was a year of great change. It began with women submerged under layers of soft shapeless clothing...But the year ended with the same women shedding layers to emerge with a revamped fashion silhouette reminiscent of the 1940's, a look characterized by broad, even padded shoulders, tight waistlines, and shorter, straighter skirts.
  66. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1976-1986". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. p. 346. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. [Alaïa] designed clothes that reincarnated his screen idols, Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner...
  67. ^ Donovan, Carrie (1977-08-28). "Feminism's Effect on Fashion". The New York Times: 225. [In the early 1970's,] [t]he young wore blue jeans and shirts with no bras, and women seeking to express their individuality wore pants. It was the beginning of the great sportswear era. What women wanted and bought were separate items — sweaters, shirts, jackets — to put together themselves as they saw fit.
  68. ^ Morris, Bernadine (1976-01-01). "70's Fashion: Sportswear at the Summit". The New York Times: 36. Retrieved 2021-12-10. [T]he 1970's will be marked by clothes divided into many easy pieces that can be added to or subtracted from, according to the weather, personal preferences and the feeling of the moment.... Construction will continue to be simplified so that clothes become increasingly less bulky and more flowing. The style of the 1970's is low on artifice, high on a natural look. Casual is the operative word.
  69. ^ Mount, jr., Roy (1979-01-01). "Fashion". The New York Times: 18. Retrieved 2021-12-08. In the 1970's...[s]portswear emerged as the dominant theme, implying a relaxed fit and considerable versatility, since most clothes were made in interchangeable parts....For a number of years, it offered a serviceable way of dressing, geared to active women's lives, adjusting to vagaries of climate, adapting easily to travel requirements. As the sportswear onslaught continued, clothes lost their linings and interfacings, becoming softer, looser, less structured. Almost everything became as comfortable to wear as a sweater.
  70. ^ Romano, Lois (1985-10-06). "Shoulders of Fortune". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-02-07. [Claude Montana] says that, in a way, he is designing for the woman who doesn't exist anymore. 'That woman doesn't care about comfort, just about her look,' he says. 'It is the woman of Hollywood in the '40s. Today, everyone in the movies wants to look like the girl next door . . . I would love to have designed for the Hollywood of yesterday'.
  71. ^ Morris, Bernadine (1983-02-27). "The Directions of the Innovators". The New York Times: 132. Retrieved 2022-04-04. [Azzedine Alaïa, Claude Montana, Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier, i]n these designers' collections, waistlines are usually taut, heels are high,...and, while the designers generally deny it, many of the clothes are restrictive.
  72. ^ Hyde, Nina S. (1979-04-11). "Not-So-Ready-to-Wear Clothes". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-02-07. 'What has been appearing on stage has nothing to do with women today,' said a very distressed Koko Hashim of John Wanamaker's in Philadelphia...'Customers will be so turned off by the pictures they see they will retreat happily back to their blazers. And that is not good for business.'
  73. ^ Hyde, Nina S. (1985-09-06). "Alaia, Paris". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09. Others say [Alaïa's] super-fitted clothes, sculpted at the midriff and over the derrière, embody the worst in fashion's newest look: a swerve back to sexy and provocative dress, surely inappropriate for the modern woman.
  74. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1983". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. p. 384. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. Narrow, girded loins, tight skirts, wide, aggressive shoulders, camp, revealing corsetry worn like armour plating, and blank, harshly made-up or bruised faces amounted to a travesty of womanhood.
  75. ^ Morris, Bernadine (1982-09-21). "Notes on Fashion". The New York Times: B1. Retrieved 2021-12-08. ..[H]ow explain the resurgence of short, tight skirts, body-cupping knitted dresses, spindly heels and other constricting clothes that can only be described as sexist? Favored by a small fashion-oriented cult in Paris, the styles by such designers as Azzedine Alaia, Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana...run counter to the flowing, unrestricted...look, and many women find them offensive.
  76. ^ Cunningham, Bill (1988-03-01). "Fashionating Rhythm". Details. VI (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 118. ISSN 0740-4921. Alaïa and Gaultier[s]...critics often assailed them for what they perceived to be provocative sex clothes.
  77. ^ Morris, Bernadine (1983-02-27). "The Directions of the Innovators". The New York Times: 132. Retrieved 2022-04-04. Some...denounce it as a negation of all the strides made by women in the last 20 years and a mark of the return to their sex-object status.
  78. ^ Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1976-1986". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. p. 346. ISBN 0-670-80172-0. [H]e presented a crude, almost vicious picture of feminine sex appeal, at times lacking sensuousness.
  79. ^ Luther, Marylou (1985-10-24). "Fashion". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-03-09. Alaïa's...dresses show every dimple, every vein, every corpuscle.
  80. ^ Dryansky, G. Y. (1984-08-12). "Fashion: Emerging from the Shadows of Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-14. 'Men turn their heads when you wear his clothes,' says Mathilde de Rothschild, 'That's not so bad'.
  81. ^ McCall, Patricia (1983-03-20). "Fashion Preview". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-14. 'I respect the body,' Azzedine says, 'Even a rounded woman looks good in my clothes'.
  82. ^ Hyde, Nina (1987-04-05). "Fashion Notes". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-04-04. Alaia used a Size 14 model in his show, as well as a pregnant model -- obviously to answer critics who insist his clothes are only for the superskinny. Admittedly, neither model wore the designer's close-to-the-body knit dresses with intriguing seams, but rather his easy, belted coats.
  83. ^ McCall, Patricia (1982-09-05). "Fashions: Expanded Horizons for Azzedine Alaïa". The New York Times: 33. Retrieved 2021-12-14. Dawn Mello, the executive vice president and director of fashion merchandising at Bergdorf Goodman,…explains: '…There is a whole generation of young women who have never worn fitted clothes. Azzedine's are fitted, but they are in no way retrospective – a throwback to the 1940's or 50's – they are thoroughly modern'.
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