Azzedine Alaia: 'Who Will Remember Anna Wintour In The History Of Fashion? No One'

Seems like once you get designer Azzedine Alaia talking, he won't stop...which is not to say we're not enjoying it. Earlier this week, he revealed that Dior offered him the top spot at the fashion house after John Galliano's dismissal and he previously decried the industry's pressures, calling the deadlines "inhumane."

And now making the rounds: an interview from Virgine in which he bashes both Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour. Two for one!

On Kaiser Karl:

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.

On Editrix Wintour:

She runs the business (Vogue) very well, but not the fashion part. When I see how she is dressed, I don't believe in her tastes one second. I can say it loudly! She hasn't photographed my work in years even if I am a best seller in the U.S. and I have 140 square meters at Barneys. American women love me; I don't need her support at all. Anna Wintour doesn't deal with pictures; she is just doing PR and business, and she scares everybody. But when she sees me, she is the scared one. [Laughs.] Other people think like me, but don't say it because they are afraid that Vogue won't photograph them. Anyway, who will remember Anna Wintour in the history of fashion? No one.

Uh, burn? More like, "deee-amn." Read more at VirgineMag.com.

Comments

[scottjhnson]

05:10 PM on 07/17/2011

i have to agree with alaia here. imo,wintour is taken way too seriously in this business. she's great at running that virtual catalogue(and let's be honest that's what it essentially is)people call a magazine,and the marketing of such,but the content and her fashion prowess is incredibly biased and one-dimensional. and this worshipping--and frankly bum kissing--people do just to even be given a mere glimmer of a chance to get into those pages is really the saddest part. she weighs too much influence yet never does anything with it except when it comes to her particular "pets". case in point: porenza schouler. she perpetuates those whom she feels a particular taste for yet so many highly talented designers(many of whom are veteran designers) in this country go unnoticed. really,azzedine could have said the same as he said of kaiser karl....a caricature,at best.

the real truth is,anna wintour is not a real down in the pits fashion editor....most certainly,not in the way that vreeland was,who was so unashamedly passionate about design and talent. not the way that the late liz tilberis was and certainly not the way that current journos like suzy menkes,anna piaggi,carla sozzani and the like are. wintour to me is more a profit manager.

[energyrefuge]

09:18 AM on 07/12/2011

I love him!

[Tzaims Luksus FRSA]

10:29 AM on 06/25/2011

Here is the recipe for:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING = Imbibe at your own risk!!!!!!!!!! = not recommended for consumption. !!!!!!!!!!

Haute Couture Punch: The Galliano Alexander Cocktail
Equal parts:
Galliano Liquer
Hennesey Brandy
Tiquilla (the best)
Absinthe
Creme de Cacao
Heavy Cream
Shake well with ice
Pour into wide large champagne glass
Garnish with ground Mandrake Root

[Tzaims Luksus FRSA]

08:40 AM on 06/25/2011

Galliano without Galliano? Look's like Galliano? New collection?...fine for some awful for most...little retro for the ladies and drugged out for the men. Where could you wear such clothes...to the cafe that Galliano made famous in Paris? So what kind of contract did Galliano sign that leaves him without ownership of his own name and fashion label? Maybe Dior should re-hire Galliano back. If this is the fashion look Arnault and Toledano want...the Galliano/not/Galliano/looks-like/but-isn't/Galliano/ then ...well pardon me...I suddenly feel sick at the stomach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and I haven't drunk any Galliano liquor (The famous Italian aperatif.)

[Lozange]

09:24 PM on 06/24/2011

Refreshing! A freestanding freethinking designer not dependent on la Wintour. Bravo!

[TRhett]

05:02 AM on 07/09/2011

I think Anna may have outlived her usefulness. She's certainly outlived her wardrobe.

[Tzaims Luksus FRSA]

01:15 PM on 06/24/2011

Bernard Arnault has been grabbing at straws to replace Galliano. Unfortunately Galliano's defense was worse than his rant. Drugs was the fashion mix under Halston. The wrong mix with fashion design.. sex should be discrete. Arnault does not know what is right for Dior. His public relations for his LVHM fashion group is pressured by people like Anna Wintour. I don't like commenting on Wintour. Her mind set is not flexible due to her limited view of fashion. She will be part of fashion history. Not the most enviable one. Pressure at Dior is said is extreme. Dior needs a diplomatic designer who can bring dignity back to haute couture. The fashion media also needs to check in to rehap for drug and alcohol abuse. Dior is the one house that represents what is respectable and dignified and designers who are extreme in their lust for attention should be avoided. We can streamline Dior back, not too far back, to what is beautiful and not to the 'dark side' of fashion. I grew up knowing Dior. My first collection in 1966 was regarded as a new breakthrough in fashion design not seen since Dior's new look in 1947. I could control Dior's 'out of control pressure' simply because as executive designer I just would not allow it. That is the first step at Dior.

[Tzaims Luksus FRSA]

10:15 AM on 06/24/2011

1960s fashion was well distributed by nationional identity. Vogue was an American magazine Not any more. French designers invaded NYC as did the Italians. NYC became a hodge podge of European designers. Only crass commercial fashion designers, Halston, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein survived. The British took over the fashion magazines Most designers in Paris died. Bernard Arnault created a monopoly to decide who could design where claiming only he can designate what is 'haute couture'. Anna Wintour blacklisted more designers than she supported. Lagerfeld distinguished himself as a James Bond villian with the look iof an S.S. Gestapo/cum fashionista. If haute couture is dead, then Paris self destructed. Wintour got lost in a fixed look. There is trouble at Dior and Galliano only the tip of the iceberg. Like Alexander McQueen is a bit over rated by aggressive British fashionistas. Americans are competent to be editors of American fashion magazines. All the foreign fashion designers should leave the US and go home. American Fashion could breath again. Or then an American fashion designer should be "head designer" of Dior. I have offered to take that position. Britain, France and Italy had their turn in the USA. It is time the USA profited in Europe!

[Urbane Worrier]

03:23 AM on 06/24/2011

Fashion spats and feuds...

A deathmatch of sorts should be arranged.

[TRhett]

05:00 AM on 07/09/2011

TOO funny . . . with all the REAL death matches going on in the world! (not that we couldn't use a little silly distraction now and then).

[HeadstrongEM]

12:10 AM on 06/24/2011

Anna Wintour is not a creative person, so she isn't in the same league as Azzedine Alaia and other designers. She IS NOT the creative or fashion editor of Vogue. And she dresses horribly.

[deluk]

03:14 AM on 06/24/2011

If Anna Wintour dresses "horribly"...I'd love to see what you're wearing.

[JJovana]

09:12 AM on 06/24/2011

She does actually. Some of the prints she choses, especially recently, not even a 50's housewife would have in her house as a curtain. Wintour and fashion do not belong in the same sentence. Anyone who subscribes to Vogue and appreciates fashion, will tell you that.

[An Independent Woman]

10:57 AM on 06/27/2011

I have to agree, Headstrong. Ann Wintour dresses like a Grosse Point matron. A fasion editor should show verve, strength. As the editor of say, Vogue, isn't going to be a young woman, she can't be cutting edge (shrug, maybe she SHOULD be cutting edge). Anyway, she should lead the way in fasion. Anna Wintour always looks like a lady, without imagination or style.

[nycagnes]

11:29 PM on 06/23/2011

This man is a true artist in fashion and so right on with his opinions on Lagerfeld and Wintour. I have a few pieces of his work from the 90's, just can't fit into them anymore.

[mushimom]

10:26 PM on 06/23/2011

I love this man.....I alway's thought that Gianni copied him...he put the sex in fashion...but that is only my little opinion....Yet Iove Gianni as well....hell, I wish I had vintage of both from the 90's!!

[ArChiMi]

08:16 PM on 06/23/2011

He is a genius like Galliano is. But that is not enough to have a stellar career. You also need to have tact and avoid saying things that hurt your career.

[maryfreakingsunshine]

09:07 PM on 06/23/2011

Right, and that's exactly what happened to Galliano--his racist rant earned him the boot.

This guy sounds bitter.

[JJovana]

09:14 AM on 06/24/2011

Alaia designs on his own terms. If he wants a collection, he'll make a collection. He doesnt advertise or follow "seasons" to the tee. 20+ year career speaks for itself.

[veritas88]

08:13 PM on 06/23/2011

Why hasn't Wintour put AA's work in Vogue, in the first place?

[mushimom]

10:28 PM on 06/23/2011

Cos she is a B*tch, and she believes her own press....I find her tiresome...and I wish she would knock it off with the hairdo and glasses....she is no Coco Chanel....

[veritas88]

11:51 AM on 06/24/2011

Ok, but she's put many other designers in Vogue. Why has she specifically excluded AA??

[William Ndatila]

08:12 PM on 08/05/2011

she said he was too inspired by Black women and their body shape. He band her from his shows...that was 20 years ago.

[Brian Gorrell]

07:09 PM on 06/23/2011

He is such a GREAT designer!
He WILL be remembered as a true visionary.
Anna, not so much.
She has the WORST taste, he is right about that.

[maryfreakingsunshine]

09:11 PM on 06/23/2011

Yet the September issue of Vogue remains the fashionista's bible. You can't deny her influence on the world of fashion.

[mushimom]

10:32 PM on 06/23/2011

You must of seen her glorified ad "September".....she has an ego...and a huge one at that...she will be replaced...everyone alway's has to step down when their palate get's dull...I admired her, for awhile, until I saw her on sixty minutes...she is rude...and...dull....but I don't know her personally, so i am being snarky....

[Francisco Vasquez]

07:02 PM on 06/23/2011

WOW!!! and let the fighting begin!!!