AZ Factory’s Paris Fashion Week tribute to its late founder Alber Elbaz is the product of unprecedented collaboration among the biggest designers in fashion.
Rei Kawakubo, Alessandro Michele, Nicolas Ghesquière, and Many Others to Design Tributes to Alber Elbaz
Paris Fashion Week will be incomplete this season without Alber Elbaz. Were he still alive, we would have had the chance to see his rule-breaking new AZ Factory collection in person for the first time. Even better, we would have been treated to his presence. Nobody could riff about his design instincts, the clients who inspired him, or, with the early 2021 launch of his new label AZ Factory, the need for fashion to change quite like Elbaz could. As fun as his runway shows were, with the champagne and snacks and electric atmosphere, his presentations were almost better for the pleasure that was had by being in his quick-witted company.
But the season won’t go by without a tribute. As previously announced, AZ Factory will put on a week-closing show of pieces made in Elbaz’s honor by 44 of the world’s most talented designers. Among them are Rei Kawakubo, Alessandro Michele, Donatella Versace, and Nicolas Ghesquière. From the US, Ralph Lauren, Virgil Abloh, Daniel Roseberry of Schiaparelli, and others are participating; from South Africa, Thebe Magugu; and from China, Guo Pei. The company is calling the event, which will be live-streamed on October 5 at 8 pm CET, “Love Brings Love.”
With that sentiment in mind we reached out to several designers who’ve signed on for the show. Rick Owens, a fellow expat in Paris, said, “I always really admired Alber’s very, very light touch with flou construction—I’m sure I ripped off something here and there. Besides his beautiful clothes, his main legacy will be the warmth he brought to the industry, but he will also be a reminder of a great talent treated poorly by corporate forces.”
It took five years after a bad breakup with the owners of Lanvin for Elbaz to restart with a new concept. On a Zoom call at the time of its launch in late January, Elbaz said he was determined to keep AZ Factory human-sized and to put the client at the center of the project, not corporate profits. Apropos of that, Simone Rocha recalled Elbaz’s passion. “I remember seeing him doing a fitting for a customer in a cream dress in the Lanvin shop in Paris, and you just know each dress, client, moment, was important to him, nothing was disposable, he really cared. I think the industry should miss the care he brought to fashion.”
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Nicole Phelps
