TREASURE: Palais Galliera is internet hosting one other Azzedine Alaïa retrospective this 12 months, solely this time it will not give attention to her personal designs, however on her huge private assortment of couture clothes.
Titled “Azzedine Alaïa, couturier collectionneur” (“Azzedine Alaïa: Couturier, collector”), the exhibition might be offered on the vogue museum supported by the Metropolis of Paris from September 27 to January 21, 2024. This follows a Alaïa retrospective held on the museum in 2013 to coincide with its reopening after 4 years of renovations.
The present will draw on an archive of 20,000 clothes amassed by the late Tunisian designer, mentioned Olivier Saillard, director of the Azzedine Alaïa Affiliation and curator of the exhibition. They embody items from the likes of Madeleine Vionnet, Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli and Jean Patou, in addition to extra up to date designs by Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano, amongst others.
The extent of Alaïa’s private couture assortment was unveiled after her passing in 2017 and it was considerably overwhelming, with clothes densely packed within the basement of her headquarters on Rue de Moussy in Paris. The gathering has since been cataloged and is now saved in museum grade storage.
Alaïa started accumulating in 1968, when Balenciaga closed his high fashion atelier and Madame Renée, who ran the atelier, invited the younger designer to rescue materials. As a substitute, he preciously preserved the clothes he discovered.
“It was the most important non-public couture assortment on the earth and he began accumulating very early on,” Saillard informed WWD. “It was to guard the patrimony. He could not assist it. He felt an pressing must safeguard the reminiscence not solely of the couturiers, but additionally of the workshops that produced the garments.
Saillard, who ran the Palais Galliera from 2010 to early 2018, mentioned Alaïa’s urge for food for accumulating surpassed that of all different private and non-private establishments. “When she ran a museum, Azzedine saved the very best items,” he marveled.
The gathering displays each Alaïa’s tastes and the abilities of the designers she admired. Noting, for instance, a preponderance of black, purple and blue fits, Saillard mentioned Alaïa introduced collectively American designers corresponding to Charles James, Adrian and Claire McCardell, whose work has been largely ignored by French establishments.
The exhibition will supply a primary have a look at the gathering, with a collection of some 150 items. Alaïa owned 900 designs from Madame Grès alone, which made the choice course of difficult. “It was tough, as a result of there are such a lot of masterpieces,” Saillard mentioned. “It is like having a 3rd vogue museum in France.”