Posted on: 14 February 2012 by Barbara Chalghaf | Fashion
"A woman is not going to buy a little skirt for a lot of money if it’s not for seduction. What else are clothes made for?”
Despite his length Azzedine Alaïa, can be seen as one of the most outstanding fashion designers of all times. His pieces, just like himself, have one thing in common; a mysterious and discreet amount of luxury seduction. Being born an raised in colonial Tunisia his first fashion hunger was stilled by a close friend of his mother who gave him copies of the French Vogue. A few years later he signed up for the L’ecole de Beaux-Arts in Tunis and started to make dresses for the French Bourgeoisie ladies in Tunis who wanted to be on top of the Parisian fashion.
Alaïa introduced his first prêt-à-porter collection in 1980 and continued to work privately for individual customers until the mid-1980s. Because all his clothes were making a clinging sound, his nickname became the King of Cling, please don’t confuse this with the King of Bling.
His line became an instant success because of the introduction of a certain minimalistic perfectionism which exposed much of sexy skin without being quite vulgar. This explains why Grace Jones, Tina Turner, Raquel Welch, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Brigitte Nielsen, Naomi Campbell (who is like a daughter to him), Carine Roitfeld can be seen as his true devotees.
Alaïa dictates fashion by his own set of rules, he only holds fashion shows when he has something to show, in his own time frame. This is why nobody was surprised when Dior in August 2011 knocked on Alaïa's door in order to replace John Galliano and Alaïa immediately turned down this opportunity. Since 2000 Alaïa has joined forces with Miuccia Prada. However, he will continue to handle all distribution in France from his boutique in Paris, Prada will handle his worldwide distribution.
If you want to discover more of Alaïa’s world, please go to the Groniger Museum where you can check some of the highlights of his creations of the past ten years. This exposition is an follow up of the 1998 expo in the same museum which has been traveling all over the globe (Brant Foundation, Guggenheim Soho, New York)
For more information please check: www.groningermuseum.nl
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