Alber Elbaz
Encyclopedia
Biography
Alberto Elbaz was born in CasablancaCasablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. He immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of ten and grew up in Holon. After serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, he studied at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design
Shenkar College of Engineering and Design
Shenkar College of Engineering and Design is a college in Ramat Gan, Israel. Shenkar serves the Israeli industry by providing academic qualification and R&D services for modern industries....
in Ramat Gan. His life partner is Alex Koo, Lanvin's director of marketing.
Fashion career
In 1987, Elbaz moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and spent two years working for a manufacturer of mother-of-the-bride clothing. He then worked for Geoffrey Beene
Geoffrey Beene
Geoffrey Beene was an American fashion designer.Beene was born in Haynesville, Louisiana. He studied medicine at Tulane University, but dropped out in 1946, after three years. He moved to New York in 1947 to attend the Traphagen School of Fashion...
for seven years. He says he was influenced by Beene's rejection of trends and masterful drape and fit. "It was a very beautiful relationship.... Our best dialogue was not in words," Elbaz has reminisced.
In 1997, Elbaz left Beene and, through retailer Dawn Mello, was hired by the firm of Guy Laroche
Guy Laroche
Guy Laroche was a French fashion designer and founder of the eponymous company.Laroche began his career in millinery and, from 1949, Laroche worked for Jean Desses and eventually became his assistant. In 1955, he visited the US to investigate new ready-to-wear manufacturing methods...
. But, by the time of Elbaz's arrival, the Laroche enterprise had become overly conservative and lackluster. Even so, Elbaz was able to update the collection and somewhat enhance the image of the firm, whose activities at the time included the management of 15 boutiques and 70 license agreements worldwide. However, he departed within a year, 1998, and began designing ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear or prêt-à-porter is the term for factory-made clothing, sold in finished condition, in standardized sizes, as distinct from made to measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a particular person's frame. Off-the-peg is sometimes used for items which are not clothing.Ready-to-wear has...
women's clothing for Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent (brand)
Yves Saint Laurent or YSL is a luxury fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. Today, its chief designer is Stefano Pilati. Yves Saint Laurent, founder of the brand, died in 2008.-History:...
, because Saint-Laurent himself wished to withdraw from his hands-on design of prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear). In the position, Elbaz's talent was recognized, and he was groomed to become the head designer of the house when Saint Laurent retired. This was not to happen, because the Gucci
Gucci
The House of Gucci, better known simply as Gucci , is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company PPR...
Group purchased YSL Rive Gauche, the ready-to-wear label, and, hence, Gucci design director Tom Ford
Tom Ford
Thomas Carlyle "Tom" Ford is an American fashion designer and film director. He gained international fame for his turnaround of the Gucci fashion house and the creation of the Tom Ford label before directing the Oscar-nominated film A Single Man.-Early life :Tom Ford was born August 27, 1961 in...
dismissed Elbaz after three collections. Elbaz instead began working for Krizia
Krizia
Krizia is a manufacturer and designer of handbags and clothes, founded by Mariuccia Mandelli in 1950 in Bergamo, Italy.Various Krizia labels are created every year like menswear, knitwear, handbags, and perfume...
in Italy and designed a well-received inaugural collection.
Art and graphics
In October 2001, Elbaz was appointed artistic director of LanvinLanvin
Lanvin may refer to:* Gérard Lanvin , French actor* Jeanne Lanvin , French fashion designer* Lanvin , French fashion house founded by Jeanne Lanvin...
in Paris. In August 2001, the company had been purchased by investor group Harmonie S.A., led by Mrs. Shaw-Lan Wang
Shaw-Lan Wang
Shaw-Lan Wang is a Taiwanese businesswoman who serves as the publisher of the United Daily News and the publishing-ceased Min Sheng Bao.In 2001, Wang bought Lanvin, the oldest fashion house still in operation, from L'Oréal.- Sources :...
, a Taiwanese media magnate, who hired Elbaz. In 2006, he introduced new packaging for the fashion house, featuring a light forget-me-not
Forget-me-not
Myosotis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae that are commonly called Forget-me-nots. Its common name was calqued from the French, "ne m'oubliez pas" and first used in English in c. 1532. Similar names and variations are found in many languages.-Description:There are...
blue color, a favorite shade which Lanvin purportedly had seen in a Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
. Packaging has included shopping bags, imprinted with Paul Iribe's
Paul Iribe
Paul Iribe was a French designer, journalist, artist, and fashion illustrator.-Early Life and Career:Paul Iribarnegaray was born in Angoulême, France in 1883, of Basque parentage....
1907 illustration of Lanvin and her daughter Marguerite, and shoe boxes designed like antique library files, tied with black ribbons, to emphasize the precious nature of the product.
Elbaz illustrated the song "Lady Jane" in singer-songwriter Mika
Mika (singer)
Mika is a British singer-songwriter.After recording his first extended play, Dodgy Holiday EP, Mika released his first full-length studio album, Life in Cartoon Motion, on Island Records in 2007. Life in Cartoon Motion sold more than 5.6 million copies worldwide and helped Mika win a Brit...
's extended play "Songs for Sorrow
Songs for Sorrow
Songs for Sorrow is the second extended play by singer Mika. It was released in digital form on May 15, 2009, and in a limited edition book & cd physical form on June 8, 2009. The song "Blue Eyes" was used to promote the EP, and was A-listed on the BBC Radio 2 playlist. The EP received the name...
."
Awards and recognition
- International Award, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), June 2005
- Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur, Paris, January 25, 2007
- One of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World, 2007
Elbaz's simple, feminine clothing, which has been compared to Lanvin's 1920s outfits, has been lauded by the fashion press. Suzy Menkes
Suzy Menkes
Suzy Menkes, OBE has been head fashion reporter and Editor for the International Herald Tribune since 1988. In that time she has written over 1.7 million words in the paper....
wrote: "Elbaz is every woman's darling. And that includes Nicole
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Kate
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
, Chloé Sevigny, Sofia Coppola and a slew of rising movie names."