Je Suis Couturier

The late-and-great Tunisian master of the female form, Azzedine Alaia, once famously proclaimed, “I am not a designer, I am a couturier”. Alaia often knew women’s bodies better than they did. He spent his lengthy career focusing feverishly on cut and technique, up until his final days working in his atelier this past November. Admired by many for his renegade tendencies, Alaia famously rejected fashion’s unforgiving calendar, refusing to show a collection until he viewed it as ready, and sometimes not showing at all. In what ended up being his final couture presentation last July – and first in six years – Alaia offered a show-stopping array of bon voyage garments.

Now, The Association Azzedine Alaia, founded in 2007 by Alaia alongside his partner Christophe van Weyhe and his dear friend and frequent collaborator Carla Sozanni, has opened an exhibition to commemorate the late designer’s work. The show is comprised of over forty iconic dresses, almost exclusively in black and white, spanning the couturier’s career, including the dress Naomi Campbell wore in the finale of his final couture collection last July. Other highlights from the show include a white dress studded with metal grommets from the early 1980s, his 1987 zipper dress, and the famous red dress worn by Rihanna to the Grammy Awards in 2013.

A definite must see for anyone visiting Paris in the next six months. ‘Je Suis Couturier’ is up now through June 10th at The Association Azzedine Alaia.