Career & Timeline

• After graduating, Alaïa started working as a seamstress assistant. He soon began to dress private clients, and in 1957 he moved to Paris to work in fashion design.
• In Paris, he started working for Christian Dior as a tailor, but had to leave five days later when the Algerian war broke out, soon went to work for Guy Laroche for two seasons, then for Thierry Mugler until he died. he opened his first workshop in his small apartment rue de Bellechasse in the late 1970s
• He produced his first ready-to-wear collection in 1980 and moved to larger premises on rue du Parc-Royal in the Marais district. Alaïa was voted Best Designer of the Year and Best Collection of the Year at the Oscars de la Mode by the French Ministry of Culture
• In 1988, he opened his own boutiques in these two cities and in Paris. His alluring and eye-catching clothes won huge success and he was named by the media as “The King of Cling”. Devotees included both fashionable celebrities and fashionistas: Grace Jones, Tina Turner, Raquel Welch, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Brigitte Nielsen, Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour, Tatiana Sorokko, Shakira, Franca Sozzani, Isabelle Aubin, Carine Roitfeld and Carla Sozzani
• In 1996 he took part in the Biennale della Moda in Florence where, together with paintings by his longtime friend Julian Schnabel, he exhibited an exceptional dress created for the event. Furniture designed by Schnabel, as well as his large canvases, still adorn the Alaïa boutique in Paris.
• It then signed a partnership with the Prada group in 2000. In collaboration with Prada, it experienced a second impressive revival. In July 2007, he successfully bought his house and his brand from the Prada group. to be developed and produced by the group. In 2007, the Richemont group, owner of Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, took a stake in his fashion house but he still does not show during collections.
• However, Alaïa still refused the marketing logic of luxury conglomerates, continuing to focus on clothing rather than “handbags”. Alaïa is revered for its independence and passion for understated luxury.

Expositions

Reconnaissance

• Alaïa was honored in 1998 with a personal exhibition at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.
• Victoria Beckham said that Alaïa was her favorite designer and wore the designer’s work, a gift from her husband David Beckham, to two awards nights in February 2007.
• Marion Cotillard wore an Alaïa dress in a photoshoot for the French issue of Elle magazine in May 2005
• Michelle Obama is a regular customer of Alaïa. The First Lady wore a sleeveless black mesh dress with a ruffled skirt designed by Alaïa for the NATO dinner with heads of state in Strasbourg, April 3, 2009. Also in 2009, Michelle Obama wore an Alaïa dress . The American Ballet Theater Opening Night Spring Gala in New York City.
• Former first lady of France, Carla Bruni, also wore an Alaïa jacket during the state visit to Spain in 2009.
• Madonna also honored him in her 1993 video ‘Bad Girl’. 
• Lady Gaga also wore many of her designs, most notably in her Thanksgiving special, when she wore a long fall 2011 dress.
• Rihanna has also worn her designs, including at the 2013 Grammys.
• Her creations have also been worn by Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Victoria Beckham, Kim Kardashian, Gwyneth Paltrow, Solange Knowles, Behati Prinsloo and more…

Death

• On November 18, 2017, it was announced that Alaia had died in Paris. He is buried two days later in the cemetery of Sidi Bou Saïd, after the repatriation of his remains from Paris to Tunis and in the presence of personalities such as Tunisian President Béji Caïd Essebsi, Minister Mohamed Zine El Abidine and former Minister Abderrahim Zouari , the French ambassador Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, the great couturier Karl Lagerfeld or the models Naomi Campbell, Farida Khelfa and Afef Jnifen

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