Alber Elbaz

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Alber Elbaz (born 1961), Israeli fashion designer.

Elbaz, an Israeli citizen, was born in Casablanca, Morocco. From a humble beginning in North Africa, Elbaz became the creative director of the world's oldest ongoing fashion house.

When he was 10 years old, Alber, two brothers, two sisters and their Jewish parents immigrated to Israel from Morocco. After mandatory military service in the Israeli Defence Forces, he studied at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design (as it is known today) in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, 1982-86. The school's fashion department is the most distinguished in Israel. However, his parents wanted him to become a doctor.

In 1987, more or less right out of school and with only US$800, he moved to New York City, worked for two years for a hack manufacturer of mother-of-the-bride clothing where he was, needless to say, not allowed to show his talent. Eventually, he went on to work for Geoffrey Beene for seven years. He claims to have benefited appreciably from his time with Beene, influenced by Beene's rejection of trends and masterful drape and fit. "It was a very beautiful relationship... Our best dialogue was not in words," Elbaz has reminisced (Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune, May 24, 2005).

In 1997, Elbaz relectantly left Beene and, through retalier Dawn Mello, was hired by the firm of Guy Laroche. But, by the time of Elbaz's arrival, the Laroche enterprise had become overly conservative and lackluster. Even so, Elbaz was able to update the collection and somewhat enhance the image of the firm, whose activities at the time included the management of 15 boutiques and 70 license agreements worldwide. However, he departed within a year, 1998, and began designing ready-to-wear women's clothing for Yves Saint-Laurent, because Saint-Laurent himself wished to withdraw from his hands-on design of prête-à-porter. In the position, Elbaz's talent was recognized, and he would have become the head designer of the house when Saint-Larent retired. This was not to happen because the Gucci Group purchased YSL Rive Gauche, the ready-to-wear label, and, hence, Gucci design director Tom Ford dismissed Elbaz.

Elbaz then began working for Krizia in Italy and designed a well-received inaugural collection, but the circumstances were not to his liking.

After Krizia and in October 2001, he was appointed artistic director of Lanvin in Paris. Lanvin is the oldest extant fashion house worldwide, having been founded by Jeanne Lanvin, who began making dresses in 1909 and millinery earlier. In August 2001, the company had been purchased by investor group Harmonie S.A., led by Mrs. Shaw-Lan Wang, a Taiwanese media magnate, who hired Elbaz. 2006, Elbaz introduced new packaging for the fashion house, featuring a light forget-me-not blue color, a favorite shade which Lanvin purportedly had seen in a Fra Angelico fresco. There are shopping bags, imprinted with Paul Iribe's 1907 illustration of Lanvin and her daughter Marguerite, and new shoe boxes much like antique library files, tied with black ribbons, to emphasize the precious nature of the product.

Owing partially to the influence of Beene, Elbaz's wearable, simple and feminine haute couture—similar to the sporty, casual character of Lanvin's 1920s outfits—has become embraced by the fashion press. "... Elbaz is every woman's darling. And that includes Nicole (as in Kidman), Kate (Moss), Chloé Sevigny, Sofia Coppola and a slew of rising movie names" (Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune, May 24, 2005).