Dress

Azzedine Alaïa focused on the challenges inherent in the transformation of two-dimensional textiles into sculptural three-dimensional garments. Like his couture examples Balenciaga and Vionnet, Alaia had an obsessive interest in the characteristics and manipulation of cloth. He built his reputation in the early 1980s on his expertise in cut and construction, creating complex patterns that mold to the female form, such as this hooded dress, which fuses a body-conscious cut with a fabric which clings to the body. By using techniques of draping as well as tailoring, this long hooded dress mixes codes of Eastern and Western dress by being both modest as well as revealing.