Alber Elbaz, the “prince” who woke Lanvin

We often confuse genius with eccentricity, pomp or exoticism. It happens a lot in art, music and also in the complex and capricious fashion. A thousand and one times we have seen on the catwalk collections impossible to put on and the front row clapping like crazy because, as in the story of the Emperor, no one dares to tell the designer that is enlightened, in the worst sense of the word.

Alber Elbaz, Lanvin designer since 2001, collection after collection shows us that simplicity and common sense are also roads that lead to excellence. That one thing is the talent and quite another paraphernalia with which some are decorated to look like they have it. Above all, you can be a genius of fashion showing good sense and being discreet without being every day in magazines riding the number.

Famous for their volumes, their draperies and their works simple and “classical but with a twist”, Alber Elbaz is the prince who awakened “the sleeping beauty of fashion” as Lanvin was known until his arrival. The France oldest house of haute couture, founded in 1889 in Paris by the milliner Jeanne Lanvin, was living sunk in a lethargy that lasted for decades until its new owner, the Taiwanese tycoon Wang Shaw-Lan decided to hand over the reins of business to Elbaz, who has returned the brand to the covers and cabinets celebrities like Chloë Sevigny, Diane Kruger, Natalie Portman and Sofia Coppola.

Alber Elbaz, who learned his trade in New York under the command of Geoffrey Beeneyperfected his style in Yves Saint Laurent, where he worked as creative director until he was replaced by the more media Tom Ford, sums up his style with one of those phrases that should be carved at the entrance of all schools of design: “If it is not edible it is not food, and if it is not wearable it is not fashion. The clothing must conform to the women who use it and not vice versa.”

In addition to their collections for women, classic and with little room for extravagance, to the credit of Alber Elbaz also accounts for the renewal of the wrappers, which have become one of the icons of the French brand. The new bags and shoe boxes recover “Lanvin Blue“, a light blue Jeanne Lanvin created from a fresco by Fra Angelico. The genius is also shown in the care of small details.

Despite its image and its inseparable chubby glasses black paste, Alber Elbaz will go down in fashion history as the prince who awakened Sleeping Beauty.

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Images of the new collection Fall / Winter 2011-12 Lanvin, available at:

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