FASHION HISTORY: ALAÏA 1992
SPRING/SUMMER 1992 - ALAÏA
First of all, we love Azzedine Alaïa.
Azzedine and Farida. 1985. Jean-Paul Goude
He was born in Tunisia to wheat farmers, far away from the world of couture. The women in his family influenced his love for fashion, and his sister taught him to sew so that he could support himself, working at a small boutique in Tunisia.
“Wealthy, couture-wearing customers sought out a more glamorous employer for him, and then persuaded him to leave for Paris in 1957. It was the worst possible time to migrate from North Africa. A promised job at Christian Dior lasted five days, until his papers were found not to be in order. Alaïa never forgave Yves Saint Laurent, who had taken over the house.”1
He went on to design for Guy Laroche and Thierry Mugler (our fav) - him and Mugler became close friends, and were often compared for their sexy strong silhouettes. They were two extremelyyYYYy different designers, though.
While Thierry had loud and dramatic shows, Alaïa was not into any of that - he didn’t care for marketing, fame, or even following the traditional fashion season cycles - releasing collections only when he was rested and ready, to small audiences in simple venues. It was important to him to be able to work at his own pace. I wish more houses would take their time to do good work and let their ateliers rest. He didn’t want publicity or ads, he just wanted to dress strong women and make them look incredible. He did a lot of custom work and designs for specific people from the beginning of his career, so going insane to keep up with the fashion cycle probably never seemed super necessary to him. Maybe part of that was from growing up on a farm. In any case, it’s not a common move.
He was a genuinely kind person in an unforgiving industry. He took in Naomi Campbell as a 16 year old, dressing her (IMAGINE), giving her a safe place to stay, and giving her curfews - even going out to find her if she snuck out to go to clubs. He vouched for her as a model and literally launched her career. She called him Papa and likewise he considered her his daughter. He took also took Veronica Webb and Stephanie Seymour under his wing, and is often credited with inventing the “supermodel”. Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Yasmin Le Bon, Christy Turlington and Eva Herzigova were all regulars. The show I’m going to cover today has Tyra and Naomi lol. The models loved him, they would cancel and turn down other shows to do his.
“Alaïa's designs were known for their very tight fit, deft tailoring, curve-accenting seaming, leather work, and inventive use of knits. The colors he favored tended to the somber, mostly neutrals and earthtones, his masterful cut and blatant body promotion carrying the impact. In his early years on his own, he favored the broad shoulders that were part of the revival of 1940s styles begun on an industry-wide scale in 1978 and famously exaggerated by his friends Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana. His body emphasis outdid that of his colleagues, though, becoming his signature. Though he mostly relied on fit, cut, and seaming to reveal the body, by the early nineties he was incorporating corselets and bust wiring.
He was very influential during the 1980s, with many designers copying his voluptuous silhouette, particularly his brilliantly executed undulating peplums of 1985, an almost direct lift from styles shown in 1935 by Alix, who had in turn been interpreting traditional Balinese ceremonial dress. Another of his mid-1980s contributions, the bandage dress, was adopted in the 1990s with great success by designer Hervé Léger as that designer's own signature style.”2
OK!!! Enough words. Are you still with me?
SPRING/SUMMER 1992 - ALAÏA
Here are my favorite looks from the show:
Overall this show may fly under the radar for some, especially compared to a designer like Mugler who we watched last (same year, same season). But if you reallyyy know me you know I am low key obsessed with sexy simple mean hot girl clothes (as well as 80s businesswear) and this is the peak couture combo version of that
Lil pajama glam moment
And the reveeallll
The way these dresses move on video… It’s spiritual. That like, ruffley petticoat shit underneath the dresses is so smart and I really really want Terrence Zhou to watch this show and get inspired and combo with his POV like I need this movement with a hoop - anyways getting distracted
I’m obviously loving the delicate hats
Literally the shape of theseeeeee
This fluffy movementtttttT . Lil bucket bag
Look at those little darts on the hips. It’s such good tailoring. I can’t tell if it’s just the supermodel bodies or the dress - according to history and his legacy, it’s not just their bodies - and I can see the darts - but I need to put it on my body and know!!!! I NEED TO KNOW!!!! The SNATCHHH!!!!!!
Lol we love a suggestive triangle
I would die for this dress its like the embodiment of what I wanted to be at 12 lol
They’re just all really hot and good
What if u came to my apartment and I was doing complicated paperwork in this robe wouldn’t that be good
That shoe shape is similar to what happens if you cut along the seam of a cowboy boot by the way so if you have any cowboy boots that you’re over - try that
So good
wow…. Wow … Imagine if you just had that to style with. Imagine
Video details not to miss: THE SHOES. The shoes are probably why so many of the girls were falling and tripping at the show lmao!!
The details in this jacket!!! There are ties !!!
Ok so part of why I was cracking up over the show was because the models kept tripping and fucking up the curtain in the back - Tyra tripped first (following a walk where she was RLYYY feeling herself lol), Naomi then walked straight into the wall hahah. Later in the show a model finally noticed the curtain and fixed it - and the NEXT girl who walked fucked it up again hahahah. You can see in my screenshots and some of the photos how the curtain in the back is like always various versions of pulled up on one side lol.
Heres my lil curtain supercut hahah.
And here’s the full show!
HOPE U LOVED!
XOXOOXXXXX
byeeeee
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/nov/20/azzedine-alaia-obituary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azzedine_Ala%C3%AFa