Just months after former Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz returned with his own start-up, AZ Factory, Richemont, his partner in the joint venture, has confirmed his shock death at the age of 59. “I have lost not only a colleague but a beloved friend,” Richemont founder and chairman Johann Rupert said in a statement on 25 April, a day after Elbaz’s sudden passing in Paris.
Earlier this year, ahead of AZ Factory’s debut on the spring/summer 2021 couture schedule, the famously ebullient Elbaz shared some of his life lessons with Vogue. Revisit them below.
Boredom is the best ingredient for creativity
“As much as I love fashion, I needed time away from the industry to think, dream and fall in love with it all over again. I found that the times when I was bored, I got to know myself best. It’s like the seed of a flower—you need water and sun for photosynthesis to happen, but first, you need to go deep into the earth.”
A capsule is for antibiotics, not collections
“AZ Factory doesn’t do collections and I’ll never do capsules—I prefer the idea of stories. The zippers on the back of the dress are designed with a puller so women can fasten it themselves. Boning has been inserted in the back rather than the front to promote good posture.”
You must teach in order to learn
“I’ve tried many new things over the past few years: yoga (I’m too clumsy), weightlifting (my trainer told me I had the brain of an athlete but not the body of one), spending more time at the beach (boats are too unstable for me). Then I started giving masterclasses around the world and I found a younger generation that is beautiful on the inside and out—they’re not eating any junk food and are full of ideas.”
Start each day with intent
“Coronavirus, locally grown, no gluten, pre-collection, post-collection, fake news, Brexit… some of the words I was waking up to and it’s not the best start to the day. I like the word ‘reset’ as well as ‘hope’ and ‘purpose’. I like the idea of everything being solution-driven, that something luxurious can be available to everyone.”
Surround yourself by people who are different from you
“Up until last year, I’d been travelling a lot. One trip that changed the way I think was to Palo Alto, California. I met engineers and inventors, and I thought I’d never be able to have a discussion with them because we speak a different language. But they too spoke about beauty, emotion and intuition, and it made me think differently about technology.”
Make technology your muse—it doesn’t have to be a dream killer
“What is the definition of beauty in the digital age? Are they working against each other or can we be alchemists and make them mix? I wanted the sleeves of a dress to stand on their own so I made the top half out of a stiffer jersey. I gave the sneakers a point because many women I spoke to said they wanted shoes that elongate the leg. The clothes are about bringing femininity to technology.”
Rules can protect us, or rules can choke us
“I’ve always said that in order to play heavy metal, you need to be able to play Mozart—that’s the foundation. Through AZ Factory, I want to challenge our obsession with weight. I’m oversized myself and I always wore layers so no one would know where I began and ended—then I thought, ‘Why hide?’”
As my mother told me: be big and small
“I asked her what she meant by this; whether she was saying I should be skinny and not skinny. ‘No,’ she replied. ‘Be big at your work, at what you do, but be humble and simple in your everyday life.’ I grew up with very little and I think this is the best heritage, because you have values.”
There are too many ‘likes’ in the world; we need more love
“Instead of transforming women and making them better versions of themselves, I want to make them feel loved—one of my starting points was how can I make women feel like they are being hugged in our dresses? Where do they like to feel the release of tension? Where do they want there to be different thicknesses in fabric?”
Sometimes the biggest risk is not to take a risk
“I was offered jobs at different houses and it took a lot to say no to them. I wanted to create, not recreate within a house’s set codes, referencing an archive. Building a start-up means taking risks. Designing AZ Factory is about nouvelle cuisine, not a buffet.”
Learn to work with your instinct
“After the Spanish flu and the first world war, there was a peak in creativity in France known as les année folles (the crazy years), when Josephine Baker came to Paris and jazz became popular. Jazz is all about dialogue, it relies on instinct. I work on instinct, and now, rather than the crazy years, we are living in the smart years because we’ve learned that we can’t control nature—we are part of it.”
This story was originally published on British Vogue.
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