Luxury is freedom
The Master's Eye
by Micha Christos
PALAIS GALLIERA
Paris
September 27, 2023 to January 21, 2024
AZZEDINE ALAÏA
CUTURIER COLLECTOR
Cristobal Balenciaga, “Mozart” ball costume,
worn by Barbara Hutton's Cavalier at the masked ball organized by Charles de Beistegui at the Palazzo Labia in Venice, September 4, 1951
This new exhibition presents for the first time the exceptional heritage collection that Azzedine Alaïa has assembled over time.
From the birth of haute couture at the end of the 19th century to some of his contemporaries, the couturier admired talent. His collection includes more than 20,000 pieces which bear witness to this art of which he was one of the greatest virtuosos.
Passionate about the history of his own discipline, he started his collection by purchasing the wonders of Cristóbal Balenciaga when his house closed in 1968.
He continues his work of solidarity towards all those who before him had “the pleasure and the requirement of the scissor” with clothes by Worth, Jeanne Lanvin, Jean Patou, Madame Grès, Paul Poiret, Gabrielle Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli, or even Christian Dior... Contemporary creation is represented by pieces by Jean Paul Gaultier, Comme des Garçons, Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler and Yohji Yamamoto...
Madeleine Vionnet, evening dress and cape, having belonged to Agnès Ernst Graham,
mother of Katharine Graham, editor of the Washington Post, 1937
Comme des Garçons, dress, ready-to-wear spring-summer 2014
Christian Dior by Yves Saint Laurent, cocktail dress, “Trapeze” line,
haute couture, spring-summer 1958
Madeleine Vionnet, “Little horses” evening dress, haute couture, circa 1924
Recognized for his exceptional mastery of cutting, he had a deep admiration for his colleagues in the past and present. Passionate about the way a fabric falls on the body and attentive to the smallest detail, he knew how to recognize and appreciate more than anyone else this love of his profession in others.
Bringing together nearly 140 of the most remarkable pieces, the exhibition traces the history of this invaluable collection that Alaïa put together in the greatest secrecy and which was never revealed during his lifetime, in France or internationally. .
Still to illustrate this dialogue between fashion and art, which was so important to Alaïa, three stage costumes designed by Henri Matisse for the Ballets Russes in 1919 are exhibited at the MAM opposite the Palais Galliera.
An invitation to discover luxury imbued with refinement and timeless elegance.
Cristobal Balenciaga, cocktail dress, spring-summer 1960
Paul Poiret, evening dress, 1920s