An untitled, 26-minute short film about Azzedine Alaïa has surfaced online. Shot by a long-time friend of the designer, fashion stylist Joe McKenna, the intimate, black-and-white documentary was filmed over the course of several of years and captures rare, never-before-seen footage of the Tunisian couturier’s meticulous work process— cutting, stitching, measuring and fitting models in his Marais studio, pausing occasionally to snuggle his pet Saint Bernard. “It’s very much one person’s hand and one person’s mind. There are no teams of people. There are no reference books or vintage clothes. I don’t think Azzedine would even know what a mood board is,” said McKenna in a phone interview with the New York Times.
The black-and-white film, which is available online at www.joesfilm.com, features interviews with Louis Vuitton’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere, French stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, long-time muse Naomi Campbell, and American Vogue’s creative director at large Grace Coddington. McKenna also unearths rare footage of Alaïa’s earliest runway shows. Watch the complete documentary above.
