Designer Azzedine Alaia, known for clingy style, dies at 77
PARIS — Tunisian-born designer Azzedine Alaia, a fashion iconoclast whose clingy styles helped define the 1980s and who dressed famous women from Hollywood to the White House, has died at age 77.
The French Haute Couture Federation announced Alaia’s death on Saturday without providing details. Twitter tributes to his influence on fashion poured in from around the world.
Alaia ((AZ’-uh-deen uh-LY’-uh) sometimes was dubbed the “king of cling” for the sculptural, formfitting designs he first popularized during the 1980s and updated over the decades. His clients included women as diverse as former first lady Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Grace Jones and Greta Garbo.
Secretive and known as a fashion rebel, Alaia was based in Paris for decades but did not take part in the French capital’s seasonal fashion frenzy or flashy ad campaigns. Instead, he showed privately on his own schedule.