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THE STORY OF A BREAKUP

There are designers whose creations can make women look sexier, thinner or prettier. Alber Elbaz has the power to make women appear more intelligent and self-confident. After his divorce from Lanvin, the CODE’s Sandy Tsantaki wants to hear what the jury has to say. 

We don’t know if Lanvin is for sale. If it is the end of an era. We don’t know his next move. Speculation is everywhere. We don’t even know if Alber Elbaz will be the next creative director for Dior, after the departure of Raf Simons. But he said he wants to slow down the pace of fashion… Fashion and politics always match. In a time of fear and terrorism, the day that Monsieur Elbaz left the French fashion house will be remembered as the day that Sleeping Beauty went back to sleep.

“I do believe that a designer has a job that is extremely similar to a concierge’s in a good hotel in Manhattan. At the end of the day, you have to go back to Brooklyn. And I know Brooklyn is very fancy now, but I mean home. You have to go back to reality”

9 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW

1. He worked for Geoffrey Been, Guy Laroche, Krizia and Yves Saint Laurent. Tom Ford dismissed Alber Elbaz after three collections for Saint Laurent.
2. He is a Moroccan Israeli. Born in Casablanca. Moved to Tel Aviv when he was 10.
3. Born in 1961. His mother was a painter and his father, a hair colorist.
4. His life partner, Alex Koo, is Lanvin’s Director of Marketing.
5. Alber Elbaz introduced the new packaging for Lanvin, a light forget-me-not blue color. Shopping bags imprinted with Paul Iribe’s 1907 illustration of Lanvin and her daughter. Shoe boxes were designed like antique library files, tied with black ribbons.
6. He published a book of 3000 photographs documenting the work of Lanvin.
7. According to Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune, he is “every woman’s darling”.
8. Elbaz had been contemplating some kind of digital reinvention.
9. Who will be his successor? Olivier Rousteing, Simone Rocha, Huishan Zhang, Joseph Altuzarra, Lucas Ossendrijver, are the new storytellers.

“For me, the sketching of dresses was about fantasy and dreams. In my little room at home, I felt that I was somewhere else. In Paris, for instance”

the code magazine-Alber Elbaz-Lanvin-divorce 2016 | the code magazine
the code magazine-Alber Elbaz-Lanvin-divorce 2016 | the code magazine

ELBAZ TALKS ABOUT…

The desire. We are living in an industry that is always about the next thing: who is the next person? It should be more about collaborating, working together, taking the best of each world. I said, ‘You know we are going to make collections for women, we are going to actually emphasize the desire, the desire in fashion, the desire in design. I was very much into design because I came from the House of Geoffrey Beene, which was all about design, and then we pushed it also to desire, to women, to reality, to be relevant. I think to be relevant is the story of my life.

Love of Drawing. When I was either seven or eight years old, I did a sketch every day of my teacher and what she wore. At the end of the year, I gave her the sketchbook. For me, the sketching of dresses was about fantasy and dreams. In my little room at home, I felt that I was somewhere else. In Paris, for instance.

Women. I love and respect women. I work mostly with women. And you know, our logo for Lanvin is a mother and a daughter. I’ ve always said, ‘It’s not a lion, and it’s not a horse. It’s a mother and a daughter”. I find the logo very emotional.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE INTO THE MAGAZINE

CREDITS

Words:
Sandy Tsantaki

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