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Established in Paris in 1956, Azzedine Alaia accompanies his female friends in their desire for a demanding yet discreet wardrobe. Azzedine has acquired the reputation of a great cutter heir to an academic tradition that places him in the direct line of Cristobal Balenciaga or Madeleine Vionnet. Couturiers and fashion designers know they can count on him to refine certain complex designs or lend a hand on a collection that needs finishing. This was the case for Yves Saint Laurent. It was also the case with Thierry Mugler, whom Alaia met in 1979 and with whom he forged a real friendship. For his autumn-winter 1979-80 collection, Mugler invited Alaia to design the series of tuxedos for his fashion show, and in the press kit that accompanied the presentation of his creations that season, he thanked him publicly. In the hands of the man who never wanted to transgress the laws of cut, powder-grain and satin trouser suits acquired a form of notability and fluidity that was much appreciated. This collaboration encouraged Alaia to become a designer himself. Mugler strongly encouraged him, and his support proved both vital and unfailing. On Rue de Bellechasse, where Azzedine has set up his workshops, Mugler, always flanked by his bicycle, brings in the top fashion journalists. In 1982, at the request of the American department store Bergdorf Goodman, Alaia presented a show in New York. It was Mugler who persuaded him to do so, Alaia imagining that the invitation was a joke! The designer, friend and admirer, accompanied him, organized and built the show himself, answered and translated interviews, and supported his comrade in the smallest tasks, for which he was eternally grateful. In the summer, they spend their vacations together in Tunisia at the home of lifelong friend Latifa and Leila Menchari. Companions for a decade that they preempted stylistically, Alaia and Mugler freely let their influences influence each other's creations. In the 1980s, both divinized the woman, proclaiming the return of glamour in glory and Hollywood as their inspiration, a world away from the folkloric fashions of the 1970s. They shared a common silhouette where majestic shoulders contrasted with choked waists and blossoming hips, memories and fantasies of the fashions of the 1930s and 1950s and the couturiers Adrian, Jacques Fath, Christian Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga in the lead. If Mugler had a flair for showmanship, orchestrating the biggest ever parade of his creations and fantasies at Zenith in 1984, Alaia had a taste for intimacy and perfection. But it's with a shared spirit that their collections respond to each other. United by ''mutual love at first sight'', Mugler always showed the young couturier a preview of his collections. He even agreed that Zuleika, his lifelong muse, and Mirabelle, his no less regular collaborator, would marry into the Alaia family and company, which he firmly supported in its development. Contemporaries, friends, both deceased within six years of each other, the two designers showed deep respect for each other's careers throughout their lives. Azzedine Alaia, the couturier and collector behind a vast and renowned fashion heritage, has preserved over 200 Thierry Mugler-branded creations....
