Christian Dior, Carmen, evening gown.
Laziz Hamani
La Galerie Dior and the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation have joined forces for a joint exhibition showcasing over 100 Dior pieces from the late Azzedine Alaïa’s personal collection—all previously unseen by the general public.
It must be challenging to present a fresh take on a history that has already been told a hundred times, however, exploring Dior’s codes through the eyes and tastes of a fellow designer and collector is a novel and effective way to retell that story.
While the mainstay of the exhibition involves creations by house founder Christian Dior himself, there are also later pieces by successors such as Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano. All have been meticulously identified and documented with the help of Dior’s Heritage department.
The show has been curated by Olivier Saillard, director of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation which is running a parallel exhibit juxtaposing around 30 looks from each designer and pulling focus more closely on shared aesthetics.
“Christian Dior’s models testify to the relentless quest that Azzedine Alaïa had unwaveringly set his heart upon,” Saillard said in a statement. “In search of the mysteries of dresses and the delicate structures that make vaporous petticoats ‘stand up’, he skillfully brought together the objects of his adolescent dreams.”
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Azzedine Alaïa first encountered the house of Dior from afar, via the pages of the magazines he inhaled while still living in his native Tunisia. On moving to Paris in 1956, he spent a short period working in the ateliers of 30 Avenue Montaigne before striking out alone.
It was during the late 1960s, that he began, in secret, to build a private fashion heritage collection featuring the work of couturiers he admired. In total this constitutes some 600 Dior pieces.
Lady Dior Bag by Marc Quinn
Dior / Marc Quinn
For it’s own part, over the last decade, Dior has engaged in an intentional creative dialogue with the art world inviting talents to reinterpret its signature Lady Dior handbag.
This year’s global lineup hails from Europe, USA and Brazil to China, South Korea and Kuwait and features Eva Jospin, Inès Longevial, Marc Quinn, Lakwena, Jessica Cannon, Patrick Eugène, Sophia Loeb, Ju Ting, Lee Ufan and Alymamah Rashed. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the initiative, Dior has also released a dedicated retrospective book published by Rizzoli plus a series of podcasts.
Louis Vuitton too works with multi-disciplinary creatives for its Artycapucines project around the Capucine bag—in recent years, aligned with Art Basel Paris.
2025’s seventh edition saw longtime Vuitton collaborator Takashi Murakami take the lead with joyful and whimsical editions featuring his signature kaleidoscopic iconography. They were presented at the art fair back at the newly reopened Grand Palais alongside a supersize version of Murakami’s octopus mascot.
Over Art Basel Paris, Guerlain celebrated 100 years of its iconic Shalimar fragrance with En Plein Coeur, an exhibition at the Champs-Elysées flagship. The scent was named in homage to the Shalimar Gardens built by the Emperor Shah Jahan in honor of his love for Mumtaz Mahal of Taj fame.
The group show featured artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Ren Hang and Marina Abramović accompanied by bespoke created scents from house perfumer Delphine Jelk. They were animated by French polysensory outfit Magique Studio—also behind the recent francis kurkdjian exhibition at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo.
La Galerie Dior, AZZEDINE ALAÏA’S DIOR COLLECTION, through May 3 2026; Azzedine Alaïa Foundation, AZZEDINE ALAÏA AND CHRISTIAN DIOR, TWO MASTERS OF COUTURE both through May 3, 2026.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniehirschmiller/2025/11/26/dior-alaa-and-how-luxury-does-creative-dialogue/
