A Study of the Design Characteristics of the Works of Azzedine Alaïa : Focused on Women’s Collections Created between the 1980s and 2010s

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the design characteristics of Azzedine Alaïa’s works with a main focus on the women’s fashion collection he created between S/S 1980 and S/S 2016. The major objectives of this research included (a) exploration of the development of Azzedine Alaïa’s brand; (b) study of the characteristics exhibited by Azzedine Alaïa’s works in each decade; (c) investigation of the formative and aesthetic characteristics of Azzedine Alaïa’s designs; and (d) further study of the design attributes of his works. To achieve these objectives, this study analyzed 412 pictures of Alaïa’s designs along with 19 collection videos and further categorized these materials by color, silhouette, and fabric. This study employs a qualitative research method that includes a review of the previous studies and analysis of Azzedine Alaïa’s works. Overall, it can be observed that the formative characteristics of Azzedine Alaïa’s designs are (i) the construction of a realistic silhouette, (ii) constructive exploration of fabric, and (iii) pursuit of the intrinsic body created by limited color. The aesthetic characteristics were found as three body forms. The first was recognized as the ‘voluptuous body,’ which can be created by the reconstruction of the female form. The second was identified as ‘feminine beauty,’ which can be constructed by the intrinsic body through repeated draping of the garment. The third was classified as ‘restrained beauty,’ which is an expression of the restrained body created by applying a concise and modern design. Consequently, Azzedine Alaïa received attention in the 1980s fashion world and once again after the 2000s based on his continued belief and loyalty to his principles, which can be described as ‘the philosophy of the pursuit of quiddity in a woman’s body’ and ‘the slow aesthetics’ in the fashion environment, which often commercializes at an unnatural speed.

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