Though Groningen never really attracted me, this time was different. I was desperate to go there, because the Groninger Museum had a wonderful exhibition: Azzedine Alaïa in the 21st century.
This talented Tunisian designer is famous for his couture dresses, luxury and glamour. Unlike many designers, he refuses to adjust to the way fashion is based on marketing nowadays. He's independent, doesn't do anything he doesn't like and you can call him a little stubborn; but it works. His design are phenomenal, all a girl wishes for in her closet.
As the title already said, the exhibition only showed his designs from 2000 up and until now. No designs from the eighties or nineties. A pity because it would've been nice to see how his designs developed in a few decades. Furthermore, except for the name and year of the collection, there was no information about Azzedine Alaïa at all. No explanation about the fabrics, about his inspiration, nothing. I found that really regretful because the information always gives the pieces more dimension. At least that's what I found really great at 'Savage Beauty' (Alexander McQueen's exhibition in the MET).
But the lack of information definitely didn't do any harm to the clothes. Most of them were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The funny thing was, I went with my mom (who isn't really into fashion, but eventually she decided to join me anyway) and she found some of the designs I loved, horrible. And the other way around.
On this dress (very sixties) we agreed: very lovely.
The most beautiful room was the room filled with fur coats (surprising, I know). They were gorgeous, I wanted to steal one and take it home but I'm afraid that would attract to much attention: me in such a huge coat. The idea was nice though.
In general, this exhibition was marvellous. Though I'm no designer, and I have no aspirations whatsoever, I found it really inspiring.
After we saw all the designs, we went to see a few other exhibitions as well, but more about that later. It was the first time I went to Groningen and I really enjoyed it. We had a lovely lunch, saw a lot of shops and ate a pizza to finish the day (and because we were hungry). But the exhibition was the most striking thing, of course. I didn't expect otherwise ;)
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