azzedine alaia

azzedine alaia is one of those breed of designers whose commitment and honest adulation for the female form is so obvious in his work. the tunisian born designer started his career in fashion when he moved to paris in 1957 and began working for the likes of christian dior, guy laroche, and thierry mugler. at dior and mugler, houses that were famous for perfecting the female shape by manipulating cut and fabric, the seeds of alaia's inspiration was sowed. building a career that glorifies the female form and by doing so, acquired one of the most loyal customer base in fashion. throughout his career alaia never considered himself as a fashion designer, rather as a "builder". a couturier that painstaikingly construct garments that emphasizes the shape of the female body. he makes dresses with corset seaming, using stretch fabric for his bandage dresses years before leger, a very dior hourglass shape that accentuates the bust and hips with a very nipped waist, and a special attention to his favorite errogenous zone, the small of the back. although the image of a powerful sexy woman is what has become synonymous with his work, it is his extremely rigorous tailoring technique that has made him widely influential. a craft that he learned early in his career at the prestigous houses he worked for and eventually something that he put into even more practice when he started producing his own, be it small couture line that is sustained by a small and very private clientel. not many designers still alive have the priviledge of becoming the topic of sold out exhibitions in many galleries around the world. but to study the craft of his work and its complexity in construction to provide such clean and pure line is like marvelling at the great architectural monuments and sculptures of our times. in recent years, the mystique of azzedine alaia, who is notoriously private and has only staged a handfull of shows in the past two decades, has become an inspiration for a new breed of designers like christopher kane. proving that a talent and vision like alaia will never wane and will consistently be relevant.