Inside Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier exhibition

On May 10, the Design Museum opens its first fashion exhibition in it’s new home in Kensington, with a show dedicated to Tunisian-born master couturier Azzedine Alaïa, who died suddenly in November 2017. This isn’t however a retrospective of the designer’s life and career, instead ‘Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier’ is a celebration of the legendary designer’s craftsmanship and love of haute couture traditions.

Conceived and co-curated by Alaïa himself, prior to his death, with Mark Wilson, chief curator of the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, the exhibition, the first-ever UK show dedicated to the couturier, is about the study of technique and craft. It features more than 60 rare and iconic examples of couture pieces including his trademark zipped dress, the bandage dress, the corset belt, the stretch body, and perforated leather, spanning from the early ‘80s to his last creations seen in 2017.

Everything about the exhibition has had the late designer’s touch, right down to the how the pieces are grouped, with each of the 11 themes focusing on technique, rather than certain collections or year of construction. There’s a section on the influence of Spain with flamenco dresses that are embroidered in metallics from 2011, his revolutionary use of leather, including a coat studded with eyelets that he presented in 1981, as well as a series on his famous bandage dresses ‘Wrapped Forms’, which debut in 1986.

Full review here