Azzedine Alaïa Association To Open Bookstore

La Librairie, the new Maison Alaïa bookstore within the late couturier’s house on 18 rue de la Verrerie, Paris, will open its doors on November 10. A café will also open in the space, which used to house a small boutique run by Alaïa’s twin sister Hafida, in January 2019.

Lining the bookshelves of the shop, which is furnished with treasures from Alaïa’s private collection, will be rare works from the fields of fashion and photography and tomes from artists who held personal significance for him.

“Everything is unique, one-off, or very rare, difficult to find,” Carla Sozzani, a lifelong friend of Alaïa’s, who co-founded the Azzedine Alaïa Association art foundation together with Alaïa and his partner Christoph von Weyhe in 2007, told WWD. “It makes the place a destination and also gives a sense to the bookshop, because Azzedine was a collector… It’s nice to have a bookshop where young people can come and pick up something inexpensive, and where collectors can come and find something special.”

The association, which will soon be renamed the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation, will also continue publishing books. One focuses on Alaïa’s much-publicised kitchens – the heart of his world – and another telling the story of Maison Alaïa are slated to launch at the end of 2019. When the revered creative passed away in November 2017, it was clear that his impact on an industry that he had helped to define was colossal, but, thanks to those whom he loved most, his vision lives on for generations to experience.