MODEL SERIES IV ( AZZEDINE ALAÏA ), 2020
Thomas Demand has also taken pictures of the paper patterns by Azzedine Alaïa ( 1940-2017 ), a French fashion designer of Tunisian descent , which he used to make his original clothing designs . If Demand ’ s pictures are based on material objects , through the lens of his camera they become abstract – they show something , even though we do not recognize what they show . Rather than registering or documenting reality , the images mainly refer to themselves : they are ‘ autofigurative ’.
Alaïa was called an engineer or architect of fabric , and he was known for his endless search for perfection . At times he worked for five years on the pattern of a jacket – and after it was eventually shown on the catwalk , he again took it to his studio to work some more on it . His technical skill was equal to that of geniuses like Balenciaga and Madame Grès . He actually collected pieces of clothing they made , and sometimes he unstitched them to imitate their design , if not to modify it .
Alaïa passed away three years ago . His collection of paper patterns , which is stored in a depot outside of Paris , serves as a kind of library of models , which are still used by the staff of his Paris studio . The instructions , measurements , dotted lines and technical specifications on the paper patterns are silent witnesses to the master ’ s skill , and they also make it possible to carry on his label after his death . The occasionally well-thumbed patterns with all their folds and perforations , their curling edges and tears , are relics of an intense creative process , ready to be used all over again any moment . Demand shows them as ready-mades or objets trouvés from the practice of a fellow-artist – as if frozen in their initial conception , their coming into being .
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