Azzedine Alaia Quotes

There was a woman in Tunisia called Madame Pinot. She was a midwife and had helped in the birth of my siblings and me. I assisted her. I helped women give birth to a lot of babies when I was very young.

Fashion will last forever. It will exist always. It will exist in its own way in each era.

I think women should be seductive, not triste. There’s enough sadness in life now without making women look sad, too.

‘Vogue‘ remains while its fashion editors come and go.

Women must know themselves better than anyone. If you have ugly legs, wear long dresses. If you have long, great legs, show them.

In modelling, it’s very hard to keep in touch with the people you knew when you started.

Even if I was in prison, I could be free in my head. I can adapt easily.

I’m happier about my friends than I am about my work. I still have a long way to go with work. My friends, that’s the one thing I’m sure about.

I would rather die than see my face in a car advertisement.

The foundation of beauty is the body.

When you have one idea per year, it’s already a miracle!

I learned French in Tunis, along with Arabic. I also learned French history. I knew the entire history of the kings of France. And I was fascinated by Versailles.

Bill Cunningham… he knows fashion better than anybody.

It’s important to make women feel confident, because I think they are more important than men.

If you’re sad about what you see in the mirror when you wake up every morning, you must change it.

I want to speak directly with a star, not her stylist.

I have been offered the highest paid contracts in the world. I refused them all. It’s not my thing. I don’t want to cheat people.

I love film – it’s like painting.

I want to create a foundation, like a maison, in my home in the Marais. I am going to leave everything there. I am only passing through. I’m not a proprietor of anything, even if I have homes and things.

You know Sarkozy offered me the Legion d’honneur medal? I refused. People said I refused because I don’t like Sarkozy, but that’s ridiculous. I refused because I don’t like decorations – except on women.

I am very curious. Every day, I say: ‘What am I going to learn today, and whom am I going to meet?’

I had used the stretch materials for years to shape the inside of garments I made for private clients. Then I just started using them on their own.

A woman is like an actress: she‘s always onstage.

Ballet costumes are easier that opera because they are designed for movement.

I put myself on the same level as everyone else around me – from the directrice to the workman, everyone. Except my pets – they are the Kings; you must treat them like royalty.

I have total confidence in Beaute Prestige International to accompany me in creating a perfume that interprets my work and my world.

There is a sensuality about fabric. I think all materials should be inviting when they touch the skin. When I watch children stroking their mother‘s clothes, I feel that I have succeeded.

Who can really say who invents something first in fashion?

If I don’t have a model in front of me, I don’t have an idea.

My obsession is to make women beautiful. When you create with that in mind, things can’t go out of fashion.

I work for women. I only think for them. If I didn’t like women, I wouldn’t do this job.

As a child, I was raised with my grandmother, alongside all my cousins, and the kitchen was always full.

As I said many times, the fashion world, its system, can be disturbing.

There are certain people I am allergic to. I even intervene when I don’t like a customer; I rush in and check all the names. If I don’t like them, I don’t take them.

A human being is not a machine. Especially when it comes to creating.