{"id":782930,"date":"2026-07-25T02:09:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T02:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/782930\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T02:09:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T02:09:16","slug":"azzedine-alaias-first-major-u-s-retrospective-heads-to-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/782930\/","title":{"rendered":"Azzedine Ala\u00efa’s First Major U.S. Retrospective Heads to San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPARIS \u2014 Almost a decade after his death, Azzedine Ala\u00efa<\/a> is getting his first major retrospective in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exhibition<\/a> at the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco<\/a>, scheduled to run from Nov. 21 to April 11, 2027, will illustrate the technical rigor of the late couturier\u2019s work, his resistance to the fashion week system, and his impact on American cultural figures such as Tina Turner and First Lady Michelle Obama.<\/p>\n

\n\tCurated with the Azzedine Ala\u00efa Foundation in Paris, \u201cAzzedine Ala\u00efa: Sculpting Fashion\u201d will feature some 80 garments from across his career and, for the first time in the U.S., a selection of pieces from Ala\u00efa\u2019s private collection of vintage fashion<\/a>, including designs by Madame Gr\u00e8s, Charles James, Balenciaga and Adrian.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a launch event in Paris, officials from both institutions said the show would emphasize Ala\u00efa\u2019s close links with the arts. Having studied in the sculpture department at the Tunis Institute of Fine Arts before moving to Paris to work in fashion, Ala\u00efa brought an exacting eye and incisive technique to the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAzzedine would have been especially proud to see his work displayed in an art museum, rather than a fashion museum, because he always considered his work to be close to sculpture,\u201d said Olivier Saillard<\/a>, director of the Azzedine Ala\u00efa Foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBrooke Golden, chief marketing officer for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco<\/a>, said Ala\u00efa\u2019s work will be displayed in the C-shaped special exhibition<\/a> galleries on the lower level of the Legion of Honor and in some of its first-floor galleries, where it will sit alongside artworks including an extensive collection of Auguste Rodin sculptures.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Azzedine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAzzedine Ala\u00efa dress, spring 1986 couture, worn by Grace Jones to the Fashion Oscars in October 1985.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrea & Valentina\/Courtesy of Fondation Azzedine Ala\u00efa, Paris<\/p>\n

\n\tLaura L. Camerlengo, curator in charge of costume and textile arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which includes the de Young, said the institution\u2019s permanent collection features more than 22,000 textiles and costumes, many of them donated by high-profile couture clients like Nan Kempner and Dodie Rosekrans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBy Ala\u00efa\u2019s second collection for spring 1983, the U.S. was the label\u2019s largest retail market outside of France, with major buyers including the I. Magnin & Co. department store in San Francisco, she noted.<\/p>\n

\t\tLocal Resonance\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cToday, Azzedine Ala\u00efa is highly coveted and collected in the Bay Area, and despite my best efforts, I have to, in fact, admit we do not have any Ala\u00efa in the collection,\u201d Camerlengo said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMany of our fashion donors are still wearing their Ala\u00efa designs from the \u201880s, \u201890s and other decades, which attests to their timelessness and longevity \u2014 although I have been told I will maybe, one day, have them in the future,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\n\tCarla Sozzani, founder and president of the Azzedine Ala\u00efa Foundation, said San Francisco held a special place in the designer\u2019s heart, recalling they were both guests of honor at the Academy of Art University graduation fashion show in 2005. During that trip, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed May 25 Azzedine Ala\u00efa and Carla Sozzani Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the outfits to be featured in the exhibition was a striking black bustier dress outlined with silver pins from spring 1988. Sozzani commissioned Paolo Roversi to shoot it for the cover of Italian Elle when she was editor in chief of the magazine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Legion of Honor in San Francisco. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGary Sexton\/Courtesy of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI got fired from Elle because of the cover, which never came out, because Azzedine was not Italian, Paolo Roversi was too romantic \u2014 there was no head of the girl,\u201d she said, adding that the dress has since been known as the Carla.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe surgical precision of its cut is representative of the looks chosen for the show, which will explore key themes including bandage dresses, sculptures and shape, silhouettes and suiting, black and white, and construction and craftsmanship \u2014 qualities that earned Ala\u00efa the nickname King of Cling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAla\u00efa\u2019s focus on meticulous craftsmanship and intentionality in design, and the thoughtful criticality of overproduction and consumption of fashion, very much resonate in the Bay Area. Value and sustainability remain top of mind for local consumers who often look and gravitate toward high-quality, versatile garments,\u201d said Camerlengo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis construction of patterns with mathematical precision and focus on structure also has resonance in an area focused on tech, engineering and structural innovation. And we also see parallels between the way he was critical of the fashion system and fashion weeks, and the maverick rule-breaking mindset that we see in Silicon Valley,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tQuintessential Ala\u00efa\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exhibition will feature outfits worn by celebrities including Turner, Rihanna and Grace Jones, while the catalogue, to be published with Rizzoli, will explore how the U.S. embraced Ala\u00efa\u2019s designs in light of second- and third-wave feminism. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSaillard, who cocurated the exhibition with Camerlengo, said it builds on the Ala\u00efa retrospective he held in 2013<\/a> as director of the Palais Galliera fashion museum in Paris, working in close collaboration with the designer, who passed away in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Azzedine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tModel on the runway at Azzedine Ala\u00efa\u2019s American fashion show debut exclusively for Bergdorf Goodman on Sept. 9, 1982 in New York.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFairchild Archive<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wanted to bring Azzedine with me to San Francisco,\u201d Saillard said, adding that he also tried to improve on the original show, since the Legion of Honor\u2019s exhibition space spans an impressive 8,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wanted to show more at Palais Galliera, so I gave myself permission to correct this exhibition from Paris to do, I hope, one of the best exhibitions devoted to Azzedine for the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe set design of the show is based on patterns, both in architecture and in fashion, and outfits will be displayed on Ala\u00efa\u2019s custom transparent molded plastic mannequins, modeled after Naomi Campbell.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAzzedine was very strict. It\u2019s like an artist who has a protocol for his own installation. He demanded to have these unique mannequins to present all his creations,\u201d Saillard explained.<\/p>\n

\n\tAla\u00efa took part in numerous exhibitions, showing his work in venues including the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Villa Borghese in Rome, the Guggenheim building in SoHo and Palazzo Corsini in Florence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe was one of the first, with Issey Miyake, to consider the art of the exhibition on a par with a fashion show \u2014 and probably more,\u201d said Saillard. \u201cThis will be the quintessential Azzedine retrospective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Azzedine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAzzedine Ala\u00efa black leather ensemble, spring 1984 ready-to-wear.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrea & Valentina\/Courtesy of Fondation Azzedine Ala\u00efa, Paris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014 Almost a decade after his death, Azzedine Ala\u00efa is getting his first major retrospective in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,333378,229,88,6463,333379,5284],"class_list":["post-782930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-azzedine-alau00efa","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-exhibition","tag-olivier-saillard","tag-san-francisco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}