PARIS — Almost a decade after his death, Azzedine Alaïa is getting his first major retrospective in the U.S. 

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

Curated with the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation in Paris, “Azzedine Alaïa: Sculpting Fashion” will feature some 80 garments from across his career and, for the first time in the U.S., a selection of pieces from Alaïa’s private collection of vintage fashion, including designs by Madame Grès, Charles James, Balenciaga and Adrian.

At a launch event in Paris, officials from both institutions said the show would emphasize Alaïa’s 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, Alaïa brought an exacting eye and incisive technique to the field. 

“Azzedine 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,” said Olivier Saillard, director of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation. 

Brooke Golden, chief marketing officer for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, said Alaïa’s work will be displayed in the C-shaped special exhibition 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.

Azzedine Alaïa dress, spring 1986 couture, worn by Grace Jones to the Fashion Oscars in October 1985.

Andrea & Valentina/Courtesy of Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, Paris

Laura 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’s 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. 

By Alaïa’s second collection for spring 1983, the U.S. was the label’s largest retail market outside of France, with major buyers including the I. Magnin & Co. department store in San Francisco, she noted.

Local Resonance

“Today, Azzedine Alaïa 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 Alaïa in the collection,” Camerlengo said.

“Many of our fashion donors are still wearing their Alaïa designs from the ‘80s, ‘90s and other decades, which attests to their timelessness and longevity — although I have been told I will maybe, one day, have them in the future,” she added.

Carla Sozzani, founder and president of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation, said San Francisco held a special place in the designer’s 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 Alaïa and Carla Sozzani Day. 

Among 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. 

The Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

Gary Sexton/Courtesy of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

“I got fired from Elle because of the cover, which never came out, because Azzedine was not Italian, Paolo Roversi was too romantic — there was no head of the girl,” she said, adding that the dress has since been known as the Carla. 

The 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 — qualities that earned Alaïa the nickname King of Cling.

“Alaïa’s 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,” said Camerlengo. 

“His 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,” she added. 

Quintessential Alaïa

The 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 Alaïa’s designs in light of second- and third-wave feminism.  

Saillard, who cocurated the exhibition with Camerlengo, said it builds on the Alaïa retrospective he held in 2013 as director of the Palais Galliera fashion museum in Paris, working in close collaboration with the designer, who passed away in 2017. 

Model on the runway at Azzedine Alaïa’s American fashion show debut exclusively for Bergdorf Goodman on Sept. 9, 1982 in New York.

Fairchild Archive

“I wanted to bring Azzedine with me to San Francisco,” Saillard said, adding that he also tried to improve on the original show, since the Legion of Honor’s exhibition space spans an impressive 8,000 square feet.

“I 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,” he said.

The set design of the show is based on patterns, both in architecture and in fashion, and outfits will be displayed on Alaïa’s custom transparent molded plastic mannequins, modeled after Naomi Campbell.

“Azzedine was very strict. It’s like an artist who has a protocol for his own installation. He demanded to have these unique mannequins to present all his creations,” Saillard explained.

Alaïa 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. 

“He was one of the first, with Issey Miyake, to consider the art of the exhibition on a par with a fashion show — and probably more,” said Saillard. “This will be the quintessential Azzedine retrospective.”

Azzedine Alaïa black leather ensemble, spring 1984 ready-to-wear.

Andrea & Valentina/Courtesy of Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, Paris

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