Today, we continue the fashion history rubric by exploring the life and career of late fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa, famously dubbed by the press “The King of Cling”. Alaia is known not only for his body-con designs, for presenting his collections outside of the traditional fashion calendar, and for his sweet father-daughter relationship with Naomi Campbell. Did you also know that he used to work for Dior, Guy Laroche, and Thierry Mugler, staged his first fashion show in New York, and befriended many high-society women for whom he created bespoke couture gowns, as well as famous artists and influential fashion editors? Let’s discover these curious and most important aspects of Azzedine Alaia’s life and career.
Azzedine Alaïa History Timeline
The Early Years of Azzedine Alaïa
Azzedine Alaïa was born on February 26, 1935 in Tunis. He, his sister Hafida, and brother Abdelhamid were raised by their grandparents, Ali and Manou Bia, in Tunis. It is where they attended school because their parents, who lived in Siciliana, wanted them to have a good education.
Since he was a little boy, Azzedine showed a keen interest in arts. He spent a lot of time with Madame Pineau, a French midwife who helped deliver him (fun fact: he later assisted her in delivering babies.) She is the one who introduced Azzedine to fashion and painting. She enrolled him at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis when he was just 15 years old. They had to lie about his age to be accepted. He paid his tuition fees by helping Mrs. Richard, a seamstress who sold reproductions of models by the great Parisian couturiers to wealthy Tunisian customers. Even though he didn’t stay at the School for long, Azzedine learned a great deal about sculpture and applied his knowledge to fashion design, making his first clothes for his close friends.
Alaïa in Paris
In June 1956, Alaïa moved to Paris and started his career with an internship at Christian Dior. Then under the helm of Yves Saint Laurent, which he secured through a Tunisian friend and client of the Maison, Mrs. Zeineb Lévy-Despas. However, he lasted only 4 days – from June 26 to 29, 1956.
After Dior, Alaïa provided for himself by helping the janitor of his building to deliver mail. Also, he designs clothes from his room, particularly for Leila Menchari, a Tunisian designer.
From June 1958 to November 1959, Alaïa trained at the couture house of Guy Laroche.
Outside of his short experiences at Dior and Guy Laroche, Azzedine Alaïa made couture designs for many famous private clients wh. He met these clients through connections with high-society women. Through Simone Zehrfuss, a figure of Tunisian high society who helped him settle in Paris, he met many artists, filmmakers, actors, and novelists like Louise de Vilmorin, André Malraux, René Clair, and Orson Welles. In 1958, he met Countess Nicole de Blégiers. Then, he moved in with her husband and 2 children in 1959 and stayed with them for 4 years, taking care of the children and working. As his reputation grew, Alaïa started working for many high-society Tunisian women. This include Madame Bourguiba, and French, like Cécile, Lina and Marie-Hélène de Rothschild.
In the early 1960s, he befriended many famous models of the time, like Rose-Marie Le Quellec, with whom he moved to another apartment in 1963, Lison Bonfils, and Bettina Graziani, as well as actress Arletty, and French novelist and poet Louise de Vilmorin.
When was Alaïa founded?
In 1964, Azzedine Alaïa moved into an apartment at 60, rue de Bellechasse. He set up his first workshop there, with the financial support of Simone Zehrfuss. It became his place of life and work for the next 20 years. After, he moved to 17 rue du Parc-Royal in 1984. The designer changed the spelling of his surname to “Alaïa”, as it is known today.
At his atelier at rue de Bellechasse, Alaïa received his private clientele. Here, he designed couture dresses for the most stylish women in Paris, including Cécile de Rothschild, Greta Garbo, Madame de Surmont, Madame Moreira Saltes, and Countess Cristiana Brandolini.
In March 1971, Alaïa was admitted as a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.
By the end of the 1960s, couture was no longer in vogue. Alaïa noticed the growing demand for ready-to-wear and jumped on this opportunity to create his first prêt-à-porter collection.
Alaïa’s first ready-to-wear collection
Azzedine Alaïa officially presented his first ready-to-wear collection in 1979. It happened upon request of shoe designer Charles Jourdan, which was subsequently refused by the latter as he considered it too provocative for the brand. Nevertheless, Alaïa kept all the pieces, which later became emblematic of his work.
Despite the rejection of Charles Jourdan, Alaïa first ready-to-wear collection cought the attention of the press. In October 1979, Michel Cressole devoted a first major article to him in Libération. In 1980, Nicole Crassat, fashion editor at Elle magazine covered Alaïa’s fur coats. He designed these coats for for Panthère Club, and became his strongest supporter.
The editors of Elle loved Alaïa’s clothes so much that they asked if they could wear them during fashion shows. At the Fall 1981 fashion shows, Nicole Crassat, Brigitte Langevin, and Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele brought the spotlight to the brand. They were photographed by American photographer Bill Cunningham of Women’s Wear Daily, who wrote on November 23, 1981, that an “unknown stylist is dressing women, once again, in clothes designed to show off their curves.” According to Alaïa, it was thanks to Bill Cunningham that he became known in the United States. His designs were subsequently featured in Elle, Marie, Claire, and Vogue Italia.
Alaïa’s first fashion show
Having noticed the photos of Bill Cunningham published in WWD, Dawn Mello, then director of the Bergdorf Goodman department store offered Alaïa to stage his show in New York. Azzedine Alaïa’s first ready-to-wear collection and show for Autumn/Winter 1982 was officially presented to the press and buyers in New York at Bergdorf Goodman in September 1982.
Azzedine Alaïa – The King of Cling
After the New York show, enormous orders came, and Alaïa’s expansion grew in the U.S. He was soon dubbed the ‘King of Cling’ by the media. In 1983, the house opened its first store in Los Angeles. It was followed by boutiques in Beverly Hills and New York in 1988.
Following the tremendous success of his first ready-to-wear collection and first runway show, coupled with an extensive experience in couture, Azzedine Alaïa officially founded his Maison in 1983 under the brand “Alaïa”, with the help of Mirabelle Saint-Marie, the commercial director at Thierry Mugler. Alaïa staged his first fashion show in Paris, the Spring-Summer 1983 collection, at his atelier at Rue de Bellechasse.
In 1984, Azzedine Alaïa was voted Best Designer of the Year. He received the award for the Best Collection of the Year by the French Ministry of Culture.
The decline of Alaïa
In 1987, Alaïa exited the official fashion month calendar and decided to show his collection only when he was ready. When his beloved twin sister Hafida died in 1991, he began to shy away from the spotlight even more. He continued working, though, designing bespoke couture for a private clientele that made his early name. Also, he continued selling ready-to-wear in a small number of boutiques.
Who owns Alaïa?
Amid waning sales, Alaïa signed a partnership with the Prada Group in 2000. The partnership brought the brand back to the spotlight. Remarkably, the designer managed to retain a level of independence and stay loyal to his creative vision.
After signing the deal with Prada, Alaïa returned to runway presentations with the Summer/Winter collection 2002. It was shown in his boutique at 7 rue de Moussy.
In 2003, he presented his first exclusively Haute Couture runway show.
Source: fondationazzedinealaia.org
In 2007, Alaïa bought back his company from the Prada Group and inked a deal instead with the Richemont Group, to which the company belongs to the present day.
In 2008, Alaïa was offered the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest decoration, but refused the award. He later told Business of Fashion,“People said that I refused because I don’t like Sarkozy, but that’s ridiculous. I refused because I don’t like decorations – except on women. My dress on a woman – that’s a beautiful decoration.”
July 2011 saw Alaia’s first catwalk show in seven years/his second exclusively Haute Couture runway show, attended by Donatella Versace and Sofia Coppola, for which he was given a standing ovation. The third exclusively Haute Couture Winter show was presented in 2017.
Iconic Alaïa designs
Best known for his body-conscious silhouettes, Alaïa has created many iconic designs. Outside of his atelier and the runway, some of his famous looks featured in the cinema. For example, he dressed in the 1985 Bond classic A View to a Kill and Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, which brought the brand to pop culture and introduced the designer to a new, younger generation of consumers who would become a key part of the brand’s customer base.
In 1995, Alaïa designed the wedding gown for supermodel Stephanie Seymour, which reportedly took 1,600 hours to finish.
Alaïa also launched a few joint collections at more accessible prices, such as the one with 3 Suisses in 1983 – the first brand to offer to wider public access to a luxury designer, – and mass-market shop Tati in 1991.
Azzedine Alaïa and friends
Despite Azzedine Alaïa preferred to restrain from the spotlight, he was surrounded by many close friends: prominent fashion editors, (Carla Sozzani, Carlyne Cerf…) photographers, (Peter Lindbergh, Sarah Moon, Paolo Roversi…), and supermodels (Naomi Cambell, Linda Evangelista…).
Azzedine Alaïa and Naomi Campbell
Alaïa is especially famous for his affectionate father-daughter relationship with Naomi Campbell. When she arrived to Paris at the age of 16, on her first working day in the city, all her money was stolen. A fellow model friend Amanda Caseley who was going to fittings at Azzedine Alaïa’s show invited her to come with. That’s how she met the late fashion designer, who she affectionately called ‘papa’. Naomi would stay with him whenever she came to Paris and the two developed a sweet father-and-daughter relationship. Alaïa introduced Naomi to the Parisian fashion and art scene, taught her everything about the business, and protected her from the dangers in the industry.
Azzedine Alaïa and Thierry Mugler
Among his many friendships, Alaïa maintained a close relationship with French fashion designer Thierry Mugler. Alaïa credits him for being among the first people to take an interest in his work. He introduced him to some of the most prominent journalists, like Francine Crescent from Vogue France. Alaïa also designed tuxedo suits for Mugler’s fall-winter 1979–80 collection, Futures Spirales.
Overall, part of the success of Alaïa is due to a series of fateful encounters. Also, his ability to connect and befriend influential people – from high-society women to fashion editors and artists of all kinds. Azzedine was beloved by so many people.
Alaïa Foundation
Did you know that in addition to being a great fashion designer, Azzedine Alaïa was a passionate lifelong fashion historian and collector of other couturier’s works? It started in 1968 when Cristóbal Balenciaga decided to close his house.
“When Balenciaga closed, I was able to collect a few pieces. Their director was the aunt of one of my saleswomen and invited me to visit their atelier, offering me discounts. I returned home with two bags full of their creations. That is how I began collecting fashion.”
Impressed by the talent of Monsieur Balenciaga, Alaia decided to conserve his dresses exactly as they were instead of reworking them.
Alaïa also collected designs by Paul Poiret, Madame Grès, Madeleine Vionnet, Gabrielle Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Rei Kawakubo, Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens, and many more.
Conscious of its inestimable value and rarity, Azzedine Alaïa decided to donate the collection to his eponymous Foundation, launched in 2007, whose mission is to perpetuate the designer’s private collection through its conservation, archiving, promotion, and exhibition to the public
In 2004, the designer also opened the Galerie Azzedine Alaïa at 18 rue de la Verrerie in Paris, which exhibits artists in the fields of art, fashion, design, photography, and literature.
Alaïa creative director
In July 2017, Alaïa staged his last fashion show and passed away on 18 November 2017 after suffering a heart attack. Following his death, the Alaïa brand was continued by his team before Pieter Mulier was appointed as creative director in February 2021.
What do you think about the brand today under the new creative direction? Share with us in the comments your favorite collections of Alaia.
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