A stunning showcase of Azzedine Alaïa's remarkable fashion collection, published here for the first time. Azzedine Alaïa (1935–2017) was not only a world-renowned fashion designer but also an avid collector of vintage fashion. Now a major exhibition at the Palais Galliera, Paris, Azzedine Alaïa showcases the extensive collection he built up over the decades, driven by his fascination with the history of couture and his desire to conserve its heritage for future generations. Accumulated in utmost secrecy and never revealed during his lifetime, the sumptuous selection of garments ranges from the nineteenth-century elegance of Jacques Doucet and the House of Worth to the names that shaped twentieth-century fashion―Chanel, Balenciaga, Dior, Schiaparelli―and contemporary innovators such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen. Captured in specially taken photographs, these meticulously crafted pieces are a tribute to Alaïa’s unerring tastes, to the couturiers who inspired and influenced him, and to his endless respect for the craftspeople who created such objects of lasting beauty. 165 color illustrations "The pieces presented in Azzedine Alaïa: A Couturier's Collection reflect Alaïa's eye for sculptural clarity. The editors Miren Arzalluz and Olivier Saillard have arranged the collection to suggest fashion's evolution." ― The Wall Street Journal Miren Arzalluz is director of the Palais Galliera, and former curator and head of collections at Fundación Cristóbal Balenciaga. Olivier Saillard is a fashion historian and director of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation.