Modekreatören Azzedine Alaïa made no secret of the fact that he collected on the groundbreaking predecessors such as Madeleine Vionnet, Charles James and Cristóbal Balenciaga, or what he had learned to scrutinize their garments. However, he was not at all willing to show off their finds. No one except Alaïa himself, if even he, knew what was hiding in the repositories.
When the Alaïa went away in 2017 began an inventory. It turned out that he had accumulated nearly 50, 000 garments of the museikvalitet.
Read more: Memorandum Azzedine Alaïa
the Fashion Gallieras former chief curator Olivier Saillard was hired to bring order among the priceless treasures. In addition to creating exhibits at the Association Azzedine Alaïa, who, after modeskaparens death has opened in his studio in Paris, a building from the end of the 1800s, which was the warehouse for a department store.
installation view: with Alaias sculptural jackets in the middle and Adrian’s 40-talsdräkter at the walls. Photo: Stéphane Ait Ouarab
exposéer with creations exclusively by Azzedine Alaïa himself, it has now become time for the first time, vent the garment from the hidden collection.
the Exhibition ”Azzedine Alaïa Collectionneur. Adrian et Alaïa L’art du tailleur” presents a somewhat unexpected reference. It turned out that Alaïa had accumulated a large number of garment by the american Gilbert Adrian, one of Hollywood’s foremost costume designer during the glamorous gulderan in the 30’s. During the 40’s opened the Adrian modeateljéer in Beverly Hills and in New York city, where stars of half a century ordered their private wardrobes. It was above all these garments Alaïa was interested in.
Gilbert Adrian was as well as Alaïa is a master of tailored suits and innovative construction techniques. I can see in front of me how the perfectionist Azzedine Alaïa turned and twisted in Adrian’s unique garment – which we now get to see for the first time. The parallels are clear.
in my favourit colour black exposed in utställningshallens my while Adrian uniformsinfluerade 40-talsdräkter with marked shoulders, slim skirts in khaki and gray appear at the walls.
A couple of movies are also shown to remind the both of kreatörernas respective kostymkarriärer. ”The Women” from 1939, where Adrian dress stars such as Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. And the bond movie ”A view to A kill” from 1985, where Alaïa dress Grace Jones in the iconic design. Among other things, a signaturstark stretchlook that, along with the kurvkramande the tailor’s workshop was a significant part of the Azzedine Alaïas influential aesthetics.
Azzedine Alaia was born in Tunis in 1935, died in Paris in 2017. Photo from 1966. Photo: Jean-Pierre Ronzel
The two the creators had in addition another shared passion: Greta Garbo.
on the screen during the greater part of her career. Alaïa was a big success create a coat and a pair of pants for the reclusive actor in 1979 when she came to his very first studio in Paris. A dear meeting, which he gladly told us about.
Alaïa managed to buy back the Garbo coat a year ago. It appears, however, not in this exquisitely designed exhibition, but is still one of the tens of thousands of unseen nyckelplagg out of fashion history that is waiting to be lifted up from the collections at the Paris latest, very promising, modemuseum.
Read more: Unique kurvkramade creations of the ”King of cling”