Galerie Dior and the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation present plans for a rare double exposure

Talk about a very rare tag team in fashion. This fall, the Galerie Dior and the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation are joining strength to present an exceptional exhibition in Paris, highlighting the figure of Azzedine Alaïa, collector and admirer of Christian Dior.

As has become increasingly evident since his death in 2017, Alaïa had built, during his agitated life, an important heritage collection of the best modifiers, among which Dior occupies a special place, with about 600 pieces now carefully preserved by the Azzed Alaïa Foundation.

More than one hundred of these will be announced for the first time in the Galerie Dior, emphasizing the designer's admiration by Christian Dior and his successors, from Yves Saint Laurent to John Galliano.

At the same time, the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation presents a unique exhibition of works by these two “Couture Masters” in their place in Paris in the avant -garde Marais District of Paris.

Alaïa, who was actually hired by Dior for just a few days in 1956, had retained memories of demanding workshops in Avenue Montaigne, at whose intersection is the Galerie Dior.

Around thirty Christian designs of Dior collected by Azzedine Alaïa will be shown along with a similar number of their own creations.

“Demonstrating how the influence of the inventor of the new aspect was expressed in the work of the French couturier of Tunisian origin,” Dior said in a statement from the Alaïa Foundation.

Commissioned by the very respected fashion curator Olivier Saillard, in collaboration with Gaël Mamine, this double exhibition offers a new interpretation of the history of Dior's house through the eyes of a demanding collector, while revealing a series of captivating correspondences between Christian Dior and Azzedine Alaïa.

Two monumentally talented designers of a provincial environment and very different social history, who marched to glory in the Parisienne mode, even if, ironically, there was a link in their parents' professions: Azzedine's was a wheat farmer, and Christian is a rich fertilizer manufacturer.