Left to right: Saint Laurent, Dior, Peter Do
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Courtesy of Saint Laurent, Getty Images, Monica Feudi
Azzedine Alaïa liked to collect other designers’ fashion when he wasn’t making his own —and running a business and cooking lunch for friends. The Palais Galliera in Paris has opened an exhibition of his collection, a dazzling selection of the 20,000 pieces he kept in his couture house, and one thing that becomes apparent is that Alaïa loved women designers. And in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, there were many of them: Alix Grès, Madeleine Vionnet, Jeanne Lanvin, Coco Chanel, Augusta Bernard, and Claire McCardell. Their clothes almost always highlight the body with economy and ease. A dress from Vionnet or Grès looks as modern today as it did in 1935.
But something else becomes clear in this outstanding exhibit, curated by Olivier Saillard. These designers, and many male designers of the period, loved color: saturated reds, pale pinks and violets, aquamarine, a cerulean-blue satin gown from Jean Patou (1930) with the gleam of an automobile. “Azzedine learned a lot about color from them,” Saillard said. “The way to become timeless comes from color, more than the shape.”
The light their work throws on the Paris spring 2024 collections, which opened on Monday, is merciless. It asks of designers: Where are your colors? Where are your ideas, except those that come from archives?
Dior
Photo: Getty Images
Not one designer — not Maria Grazia Chiuri of Dior, or Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello, or the New York–based designers Peter Do, or Patric DiCaprio and…
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