Unfortunately, not everyone is thrilled about the event tonight. Azzedine Alaïa, an iconic designer, has asked the seven models that would be attending and wearing his designs to decline their invitations. The sole piece of his design that was included in the exhibit is a photograph, shot by Gilles Bensimon for Elle. “It would have been silly to have seven girls wearing my dresses at the party and not have anything of mine in the exhibit,” he said.
Naomi Campbell is one of the models that was set to wear Alaïa. “As Naomi has been the muse of Azzedine Alaïa for 23 years, she feels she doesn’t want to attend unless she can represent his work,” said a spokeswoman for Campbell.
Linda Evangelista and Stephanie Seymour also will not be attending, as they were set to wear Alaïa. Stephanie said, “Azzedine has made my dress for every single ball,” Seymour said this afternoon. “I had a fitting in Paris. But then he called me over the weekend and asked me not to wear the dress. I will still make my donation to the Met, but I won’t be going.”
The Met’s chief costume curator Harold Koda said that the omission was not because of a decision, but rather because the museum thought the designer would not have participated. Alaïa was not asked to donate dresses for the exhibit.
Saturday, Alaïa reached out to Marc Jacobs, one of the hosts. This morning at the press preview, Jacobs said, “He’s very upset. Azzedine is a great friend of mine. I admire him so much…. He’s had a huge influence on the way women are shaped, the way women look. I do think he’s one of the greatest influences. I’m really sad that he’s not part of this exhibition.”
