Alaïa / Kuramata, lightness in creation

Azzedine Alaïa was a great admirer of Shiro Kuramata, who died in 1991, and organised an exhibition of his work here in 2005. Twenty years later, and for the first time ever, the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa has decided to celebrate one of the great designers of his time by associating Kuramata’s work with a careful selection of pieces by Alaïa chosen for the materials, forms or approaches they share. The lurex knit of a simple gown responds to the knitted metal mesh of a chair, while the transparent acrylic of a shelf unit echoes the feather-light muslin of an haute couture creation.

Some twenty pieces of furniture and exceptional objects designed by Shiro Kuramata (1934-91) are presented in the exhibition. In parallel, almost twenty haute couture creations by Azzedine Alaïa demonstrate his poetry of form, his radical tailoring, his subtle choice of colour and his refined use of transparency. Imbued with a great sense of lightness, the pieces on display reflect an eagerness for abstraction shared by both artists.

All the pieces on display by Shiro Kuramata and Azzedine Alaïa are from the collections of the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa.