Azzedine Alaia, The Couturier Who Shaped Women

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Born in Tunisia in 1935 into a family of farmers, Azzedine Alaïa became passionate about fashion at a very early age. He took some lessons from his sculpture classes at the Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts) in Tunis and, as fashion is not a man's job in Tunisia, he flew to Paris in 1956. He learned his trade in the shadows, patiently, with prestigious private clients like Louise de Vilmorin, Arletty or Greta Garbo. As his fame grew, his friends, notably Thierry Mugler, encouraged him to present his work in the form of a ready-made collection: Americans loved it, making a triumph of his body conscious style - tight-fitting clothes, in leather, lycra or stretch. His first decade of success (he designed clothes for the iconic Grace Jones and Tina Turner, received two fashion Oscars, and bought 5,000 square meters of space in the heart of Paris) was followed by a slump. But Alaïa was far from done.