A big fan of the shapes and curves of the female body!
That ARTSPER MAGAZINE
Azzedine Alaïa, the world-renowned French-Tunisian stylist and legendary fashion designer, has been making fashion history since the 1980s. A self-taught artist and a great admirer of the female body, his art is applied to the play of shapes and curves, volumes and materials. Sculpting the dresses on the skin of his models, his dresses are built and cut shaped in the flesh, merging with the female form with a grace and grace never before seen in the world of fashion.
Azzedine Alaïa: A self-taught demiurge in love with women
Driven since childhood by his need to express himself through artistic creation, Azzedine Alaïa began studying sculpture at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis. At the same time, he shaped his beginnings in the world of fashion by replicating Dior and Balmain designs for his neighbors and the wives of Tunisia's great families. Years later, he even created a piece similar to Yves Saint Laurent's Mondrian dress. From the moment he arrived in Paris, his talent and growth potential attracted the attention of the female members of the capital's greatest families. In fact, he gradually built a private clientele that would continue to grow.
He has learned his craft from women's bodies, with his own hands, since 1950. Moreover, painting, sculpture and architecture are three disciplines that feed his insatiable passion for creation. Combining the virtuosity of painting with the dexterity of architecture and sculpture, without forgetting the technique of sewing, form and body merge to become one in his mind. His sole objective? To adorn and show the beauty of the female body. Azzedine embodies his generation of designers who have left their mark through creations that present the female body with particularity and poetry. He shook up the fashion world that until then was orchestrated by the great houses of 'haute couture' (the creation of exclusive custom-made clothes) such as Givenchy or Saint Laurent.
Innovative and non-conformist fashion designer
As a true connoisseur, he assimilates with extreme harmony and continuity all types of fabrics, each more surprising and extravagant than the next. 1979 was an emblematic year, since it was the year that gave life to his first collection. Later, this would place him at the forefront of a new conception and understanding of fashion. By materializing his artistic creations, he had to rethink materials, he dismantles the limitations given by the commands of fashion. Leather, jersey, materials that were rarely used in 'haute couture', are transformed into delicate and sensual fabrics. These fabrics cover women's bodies with such precision that it seems as if they were a continuation of their own skin.
Alaïa models women's bodies like a sculptor: He neither dresses them nor covers them, on the contrary, it seems as if the woman has been cut from the fabric: "When I work with clothes, it must develop around the body, in profile and from behind." His curious approach to fashion and his unique universe distinguish him from his contemporaries. A universe of forms that Azzedine has built around materials, working directly on the body. Pioneer or not, one thing is certain: Azzedine is an artist, an artist who loves women.
Source:
https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/azzedine-alaia-sculptor-fashion/
Selected and translated by – Enkeleda Suti.
