Renowned Israeli–French fashion designer Alber Elbaz passed away by COVID-19 on Saturday night in Paris, after being in an induced coma for several days. He was 59. He is the second big- one the fashion world lost to COVID. In October last year Kenzo Takada, the iconic Japanese designer lost his battle with Corona.
In a statement, the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode said “Elbaz’s great talent, his generosity, his human warmth and his sense of femininity made him a unique figure in the world of fashion and creation.…We will particularly miss his bubbling creativity, his joyful vision of fashion and his willingness to constantly redefine it.”
Elbaz was born in Morocco and moved to Israel with his family when he was 10 years old. Elbaz started sketching dresses already as a child and was encouraged by his mother. To develop his talent she sent him to Shenkar College of Engineering and Design. In 1985, with his mother’s support, he left for New York in order to develop his fashion career.
For seven years Elbaz worked for designer Geoffrey Beene, who also served as his mentor. In 1997 he immigrated to Paris. Elbaz became the chief designer at the French fashion house Guy Laroche for four successful seasons, during which he attracted attention in the Paris fashion scene and made a name for himself.
The official stamp of approval came in the guise of a tempting offer Elbaz received from Pierre Berge, Yves Saint Laurent’s partner – to take over for Saint Laurent and to design the company’s prete-a-porter line – Rive Gauche. After three seasons, in November 1999, the Gucci Group took over the Saint Laurent fashion house, and Tom Ford was appointed to replace him as the company’s artistic director. This came as a big jolt to Elbaz. In fact more hard knocks were to come his way.
The Taiwanese publisher Shaw-Lan Wang, the controlling owner of the French fashion house Lanvin hired Elbaz’s services in 2001 as the artistic director, and asked him to ‘wake up the Sleeping Beauty.’ Elbaz worked almost without interference, enjoyed Wang’s support and breathed new life into Lanvin, which until his arrival was a dormant and irrelevant brand.
Elbaz turned the French fashion house into an important and central player in the French and global fashion world. The elegant and sexy styles that flattered the female body quickly made him a favorite of fashion editors. He gained a reputation as a meticulous and intense perfectionist, with whom it was exhausting to work. At the same time, his colleagues always mentioned his humanity and his warmth. He was known as someone who sent flowers on birthdays or for the birth of babies or after funerals.
But as luck would have it, after 14 seasons, Elbaz was fired from Lanvin in 2015. The dismissal was sharp, painful, surprising and almost incomprehensible, because Elbaz had often been touted as one of the most beloved and admired designers in the industry. The layoff stemmed from differences of opinion with Shaw-Lan Wang and CEO Michèle Hubain.
Last January Elbaz launched his new ready-to-wear brand AZ Factory, owned by the Swiss luxury corporation Richemont. The Richemont Group is devastated by Alber Elbaz’s death.
Text by Jaydeep Ghosh
Image Courtesy: Stephane Feugere/WWD, REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes, Giovanni Giannoni/WWD,
Find more about the Designer and the Designs:
https://www.instagram.com/alberelbaz8/?hl=en
https://hand.fashionary.org/post/42571953753/lanvin-fashion-illustrations-by-alber-elbaz-alber
https://www.lanvin.com/ca/history
