Alaïa

A virtuoso couturier, Azzedine Alaïa loved to study closely the techniques of the great masters of the past in a quest for knowledge that never opposed him to them, but incited him to surpass himself. A discerning collector, he focused his efforts on putting together collections that reflected this passion, one that combines the art of cutting, patternmaking and creativity. Of all the couturiers and designers he admired, those whose architectural designs for dresses, jackets and coats most vividly came to life always held his attention. In a family that included Madeleine Vionnet, Jeanne Lanvin, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Charles James, Adrian, Claire McCardell, Madame Grès, Jacques Fath, Christian Dior, Comme des Garçons, Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler, Azzedine Alaïa wrote his own history of fashion, one governed by the sovereignty of lines and the craft of cutting. Other names and other labels, some of which have since been forgotten, equally caught his observant eye. In the clothes he kept of them, a single guiding principle underlay his choices. Whether simple or, on the contrary, elaborated to form a complex harmony, the creations found their way into his collection through their skilled application of techniques. Pattern drawings and tacking stitches that transform the outlines of a dress into celestial fabric form the vocabulary that Alaïa manipulated with such expertise. He also collected them as illustrations of a discipline he liked to situate between the Academy of Sciences and sartorial poetics.