Alaïa’s Not Lagerfeld’s Biggest Fan

Photo: Coca-Cola

The debut issue of Virgine Magazine features an interview with Azzedine Alaïa.  The designer made headlines earlier this week when he told the Financial Times he'd been offered the job at Dior.  Given the lack of response or denial from the house of Dior it's likely true.

Alaïa said he turned down the position because, among other things, he doesn't agree with what Dior (and most other major brands) have done to the fashion cycle.  So it's not totally shocking that he took the opportunity to tell Virgine his similar feelings on Karl Lagerfeld.

"Happily, women love me and buy my clothes, unlike Karl who's never been loved like me!" he said. "I don't like his fashion, his spirit, his attitude. It's too much caricature. Karl Lagerfeld never touched a pair of scissors in his life. That doesn't mean that he's not great, but he's part of another system. He has capacity. One day he does photography, the next he does advertisements for Coca-Cola. I would rather die than see my face in a car advertisement. We don't do the same work."

The designer does, however, have kind words for one man in fashion.  "Bill Cunningham...he knows fashion better than anybody. Always with his bicycle in the streets of New York, he is crazy and I love him!"