SCAD Fash Lacoste Museum of Fashion and Film presents Azzedine Alaïa exhibition

SCAD Fash Lacoste Museum of Fashion and Film is showcasing twenty key pieces by the Franco-Tunisian couturier Azzedine Alaïa in collaboration with Olivier Saillard, director of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation, at the “Art of Fashion” exhibition.

Twenty years is something to celebrate! To celebrate its anniversary, SCAD Fash Lacoste is organising, from June 27 to October 29, 2022, a tribute exhibition to Azzedine Alaïa with a selection of outfits from the couturier's archives. The SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design, USA) has taken over the village of Lacoste in Luberon, France. At the heart of this enclosure, the SCAD Fash has two buildings dedicated to fashion exhibitions.

“It all started in 2021 when we devoted a retrospective to Pierre Cardin,” explains Cédric Maros, the first French director of SCAD Lacoste. “In four months, we received 20,000 visitors where locals and tourists discovered a genuine interest in haute couture. There are few exhibitions outside of Paris, and people rarely have the opportunity to appreciate haute couture at its fair value. We organise two exhibitions per year, one lesser-known couturier (like Isabel Toledo's “A Love Letter”) and one renowned designer. The link with the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation having already been forged, the idea of ​​exhibiting the Franco-Tunisian Azzedine Alaïa became obvious.”

How to sum up Azzedine Alaïa's career in twenty iconic outfits

The concept adopted by the SCAD Fash and Olivier Saillard, curator of the “Art of Fashion” exhibition, is to stage twenty iconic outfits representative of the career of the couturier who is now deceased. The scenography is based on the aesthetic style chosen for the exhibitions within the Foundation, with floating mannequins. On the sidelines, a film produced by SCAD Fash will be screened.

Azzedine Alaïa has drawn the curves of eternal femininity in which the most glamorous women of her time have projected themselves, from Greta Garbo and Tina Turner to Naomi Campbell. Enough to inspire international students who come to spend eight weeks studying in France and attract locals and tourists, passionate (or not) about fashion. In addition to making haute couture appreciated by a more significant number.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.fr, and it was translated by Andrea Byrne.