People

On the Record

Photography by Txema YesteEric Waroll interviews the great designer Azzedine Alaïa about his history in fashion and his relationships with Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour.

We know little of the history of this feud but American Vogue does not ever focus on the Tunisian-born designer, who wasn’t even included in Wintour’s ‘Model as Muse’ Metropolitan Museum exhibit in May 2009. Several top models including Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Stephanie Seymour and Naomi Campbell boycotted the event.

Azzedine Alaïa on Anna Wintour

I don’t need her support at all. Anna Wintour doesn’t deal with pictures; she is just doing PR and business, and she scares everybody. But when she sees me, she is the scared one. [Laughs.] Other people think like me, but don’t say it because they are afraid that Vogue won’t photograph them. Anyway, who will remember Anna Wintour in the history of fashion? No one.

Azzedine Alaïa on Karl Lagerfeld

I don’t like his fashion, his spirit, his attitude. It’s too much caricature. Karl Lagerfeld never touched a pair of scissors in his life. That doesn’t mean that he’s not great, but he’s part of another system. He has capacity. One day he does photography, the next he does advertisements for Coca-Cola. I would rather die than see my face in a car advertisement. We don’t do the same work. And I think that he is not doing a favor to young stylists who might think it works that way. They’re going to fall before they retire.

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