Curated.

Azzedine Alaïa

I woke up to the news on Saturday, November 18, 2017 that the iconic couturier Azzedine Alaïa and one of my all time favorite designers had passed away.

Alaïa and a gown worn by Grace Jones in the 80s.

If you wanted the world to stop when you entered a room, you wore Alaïa. His clothes just exuded sex appeal, power, and strength. He loved the female form and celebrated women's curves in his form-fitting, sculptured styles.

Models in form fitting Alaïa styles.

On women he said the folowing:

"It's important to make women feel confident, because I think they are more important than men."

"My obsession is to make women beautiful. When you create with that in mind, things can't go out of fashion."

"I work for women. I only think for them. If I didn't like women, I wouldn't do this job."

"I think women should be seductive, not triste. There's enough sadness in life now without making women look sad, too."

"I never followed fashion. It's women who have dictated my conduct."

"I make clothes; women make fashion."

So yes, he was a fan of women and women loved him. He dressed the likes of Madonna, Tina Turner, Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Grace Jones, to name a few.

Madonna and the designer

Tina Turner

Michelle Obama

Beyonce

Lady Gaga

Rihanna

Grace Jones and the designer

Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Seymour served as muses to the master, with Campbell affectionately refering to him as "papa."

Stephanie Seymour and Alaïa

Naomi Campbell and Alaïa

Tunisian-French Alaïa founded his house in the late 70s, with his first ready-to-wear collection being shown in 1980. He had worked for such designers as Guy Laroche, Thierry Mugler, and Christian Dior.

The designer at work

He has become one of the most influential couturiers in modern history. His bandage dress, which he debuted in the 80s emphasized the waist, accentuated the hips and made the breasts sit gloriously. His corsets were a work of art, and his knit dresses clung to the curves in a truly alluring way. His clothes were provacative without being tawdry; on trend but timeless. They were defiant and dangerous, definitely not for the meek.

I first fell in love with his work in the early 90s. His Leopard and Tati collections in those days were some of the best of 90s fashion.

Naomi Cambell in the Leopard Collection

Models in his iconic Leopard Collection

From the Tati Collection

What I love most about Alaïa is how he set his own pace in fashion, often showing his collections off-schedule, after Paris fashion week was over, in his intimate headquarters. he did it his way and on his own time, and for that, he was one of my favorites.