Alber Elbaz
Alber Elbaz (1961 – 2021) is an eccentric fashion designer of Israeli origins, who revamped Lanvin and founded his own label.
The career of Alber Elbaz
Israeli designer, he was born in Casablanca, Morocco. He lived and studied in Tel Aviv until his graduation at the Shenkar College School of Fashion and Textiles. He did his fashion apprenticeship in New York, working 7 years with Geoffrey Beene.
On March 8th 1999, at the Carrousel du Louvre, on an iron runway where models marched like soldiers wearing metal sandals and stiletto heels, he won the challenge to replace Yves Saint-Laurent (who wished to devote himself to haute couture only) in the design and artistic direction of Yves Saint-Laurent Rive Gauche prêt-à-porter, the most important collection in the entire maison. Unlike many other new talents who become the creative head of a historic griffe, he didn’t distort the house style. He only re-examined it, keeping a perfect balance between tradition and the need to innovate, between himself and the memory of the previous master. He allowed himself some plays on contrast, such as red fox on matted “impoverished” cashmere, and a tuxedo jacket worn with plus fours knickers, a sequined top and a train with a bow on it, as well as some risky colors, including orange and green. Saint-Laurent lent him his good-luck jewellery. Short, not handsome (he says: “I’d love to be handsome and slender. It must feel good to be Tom Cruise.”), an indefatigable worker, he arrived at Saint-Laurent after reinvigorating Guy Laroche, for which he designed the 1997 and 1998 collections. He left Saint-Laurent in 2000.
The revamping of Lanvin
In 2000 he fashion designer, included by Time among the one hundred most influent people in the fashion system, began a short collaboration with Krizia. In 2001 he became Creative Director at Lanvin. In fourteen years, he brought again the French maison to success, so his unexpected layoff, in 2015, upset the fashion world.
AZ Factory: the factory of dreams
When his partnerships with Lanvin ended, he partnered with Tod’s, Converse and Lancôme, then he disappeared from the scenes. In 2021 he announced his big return: AZ Factory was born. The declared aim of the brand was to create dreams and to narrate the fashion from a new point of view. Alber Elbaz didn’t want to substitute someone else any more, but he wanted to restart from zero with a project which concentrated on technology and innovation at the service of an inclusive fashion.
On 24th April 2021, Alber Elbaz died at the age of 59.
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