Holon (Israel) (AFP)
The funeral of Israeli-American designer Alber Elbaz, former artistic director of Lanvin who died of Covid-19 at the age of 59, took place in Israel on Wednesday, during a ceremony bringing together his relatives.
Adored by stars and respected by his peers, Alber Elbaz died on Saturday in Paris, leaving behind a fashion industry in mourning, he who had revitalized the Lanvin house.
Hundreds of people - family members, friends and fashion names - attended his funeral on Wednesday in the cemetery in the city of Holon, south of Tel Aviv, where Alber Elbaz (born Albert) grew up after arriving from his native Morocco.
In front of his coffin covered with a Jewish prayer shawl, his companion Alex Koo recalled, moved, the beginnings of the designer who left Israel "with only a suitcase and full of dreams, hopes and raw and intuitive talent".
Recognizable by his round figure, his glasses and his bow tie, Alber Elbaz marked the fashion world with his little dresses, popular with Hollywood actresses like Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett and Sienna Miller.
He began his career with American designer Geoffrey Beene in New York, before being hired by Guy Laroche.
In 1998, he then took over from Yves Saint-Laurent for the French couturier's ready-to-wear line, then joined Lanvin in 2001.
At its head for 14 years, the designer has succeeded in raising the oldest French fashion house, founded in 1889, to the firmament.
At Lanvin, he asserts his style and his vision of fashion for women.
A functional fashion that must accompany their bodies and enhance them.
In 2019, he joined forces with the Swiss Richemont to launch his own label "AZ Factory", which he wanted "functional and suitable for everyone".
"More than any other contemporary designer, Alber listened and did not tell women how to dress," Lea Peretz, senior lecturer at Shenkar College, Israel's school of art and design, told the funeral ceremony. and longtime friend of the couturier.
"He did not try to change us, to transform us into fantasies, but on the contrary - to see the complexity and the needs that modernity dictates to the life of a contemporary woman," she added.
© 2021 AFP