Grace Coddington Remembers Azzedine Alaïa

Azzedine’s death is so terribly sad and sudden, I had the feeling that he would be around forever. I think the best tribute to him is the brilliance of his designs that are at once utterly modern and yet somehow timeless. He was perhaps the only designer who could actually meticulously sew a dress himself from start to finish; we’ve all seen him do it, working in his atelier until the early hours of the morning. Such dedication. A very great loss.

Coddington’s illustration of the designer appears in her memoir, Grace: A Memoir.