Dear Shaded Viewers,
For its first exhibition of 2021 at the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation celebrates two talents in fashion and photography. The photographer Peter Lindbergh and Azzedine Alaïa loved the colour black. For Lindbergh it was the silver print and for Alaïa the solid colour garment. Both Lindbergh and Alaïa dominated their respective disciplines. Both reject any artifice that distracts from the true subject and it is with great ease that the two come together, one magnifying the other.
Alaïa’s clothes, according to his wishes act as pedestals for the smiles and the eyes of the women, icons and supermodels who wear them. For Lindbergh, who has built his notoriety on the images of these great models, the authenticity of their traits is all that matters. Both have been the great passionate artisans of their faces.
Under the glass roofed gallery of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation, the setting for so many photographs and intimate runway presentations under the metal beams of memories, the works of Peter Lindbergh and Azzedine Alaïa will converse with one another again for this unique exhibition.
Finally, the documentary “Great Photographers/Peter Lindbergh”
offers an extensive behind-the-scenes insight into the emblematic 1986 story shot in Le Touquet.
AZZEDINE ALAÏA FOUNDATION
Azzedine Alaïa lived a life filled with fashion, art, design, architecture, music and theatre.
Mr. Alaïa had been an avid collector in the creative and cultural disciplines for the past fifty years.
In 2007, he set about to preserve his own work and his large holdings by founding the Association Azzedine Alaïa, later becoming the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation, with his lifetime partner, the painter Christoph Von Weyhe,
and his close friend of forty years, the publisher Carla Sozzani.
The Azzedine Alaïa Foundation has been recognized as a public utility on February 28th, 2020. The Foundation’s missions are the conservation and enhancement of the work of Azzedine Alaïa, the pieces he collected throughout his life in the fields of art, fashion and design, the organization of exhibitions, and the support for cultural
and educational activities.
The foundation houses its collections in Paris and exhibits Alaïa’s own work as well as his collections. It is located at 18 rue de la Verrerie where he lived and work and in Sidi Bou Saïd, the town he loved so dearly.
A bookshop and café, featuring books on fashion and cultural history, are also situated at the heart of the Foundation in Paris.
The Foundation will also give awards to promising visionaries in fashion.
The signature logo of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation was designed by Julian Schnabel.
Fondation Azzedine Alaïa
18, rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris Tel. +33 (0)1 87 44 87 75
PETER LINDBERGH FOUNDATION
Praised for his memorable cinematic black and white images, Peter Lindbergh (1944-2019) pioneered a new form of realism by redefining the standards of beauty. The German photographer’s honest approach has set him apart from his peers, by enduringly putting personality and soul to the front. Lindbergh drastically and permanently redefined the standards of fashion photography in times
of excessive retouching, believing that “beauty is having the courage to be yourself.”
Lindbergh was the first photographer to include narratives in his fashion series, while his storylines introduced a different vision on fashion photography. He firmly regarded fashion photography itself as a contribution to photography and to contemporary culture overall.
The Foundation aims to further bring Peter Lindbergh’s photographic legacy to light, both as an artisan and as a visionary. Future missions will consist of supporting emerging talents from diverse fields and collaborating with established artistic foundations internationally.
The house of Azzedine Alaïa has scheduled the debut of its new creative director Pieter Mulier for July 4, thus staging his inauguration on the eve of Paris haute couture week.
This is the most anticipated show of the Haute Couture Season.
Later,
Diane
