How do you go about creating a show and a book about the relationship between two couturiers who never met in real life? That's the question I put to Carla Sozzani, co-founder of the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa.
She met the Tunisian couturier in 1980s while working as a fashion and book editor and the two became firm friends. Sozzani played a crucial role in promoting his designs and their bond was strengthened by a mutual love of fashion and art.
After explaining their story, it was easy to understand how and why the exhibition came into being. Both the show and book entitled _Azzedine Alaïa and Christian Dior, Two Masters of Haute Couture,_aim to establish a dialogue between the two artists who were divided by decades.
"Azzedine was helping couturiers, small couturiers in Tunis and he was dreaming about going to Paris," said Sozzani. "A client knew the Christian Dior Maison, and he found an internship for Azzedine to go to Dior."
Going straight from Tunis to Avenue Montaigne in the 50s was inevitably a massive cultural shock but Alaïa wasn't overawed by the experience. On the contrary, he found himself right at home. "He was so impressed by the atelier and the whole atmosphere, that he decided that he would become himself a couturier and not a designer," said Sozzani. "In fact, all his life, Azzedine said, I'm not a designer, I'm a couturier. That was for him the biggest achievement in his life."
Divided by decades, united by design
It's clear the master's touch left an indelible mark on his apprentice. Both artists ripped up the rules when it came to creating collections and their approaches to womenswear.
In 1947, Dior's New Look marked a seismic shift in post-war fashion, by depicting a more feminine, luxurious and hourglass silhouette.
A little over 30 years later, Alaïa also wrote his own page in the history books, according to Sozzani.
"Azzedine did this very, very strongly and very much in the 80s, giving a new shape to the human body, making like body conscious, but, comfortable," added Sozzani. "Social life had changed and the way women were living changed and women were working in the 80s when Azzedine became famous."
"For him the main point was to make women beautiful, feminine and powerful but comfortable for him was always a very big point," said Sozzani.
"There's something so poetic about those clothes next to each other, even if they are different, and the colours, or the lace, or pleats. They talk to each other. I think it's something you get into a realm of, like you're dreaming to be there, that the clothes are like, they stand by themselves.. And they talk to you in a strange way."
Azzedine Alaïa and Christian Dior, Two Masters of Haute Couture is out now published by Damiani Books. The exhibition at the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa in Paris runs until 21 June 2026.
