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Goodbye Alber

Alber, we mourn you and wish you be at peace.
Goodbye dear friend.

Alber was one of those designers of exceptional genius and ingenuity to be able to
read fashion in its true sense, as an indicator of time, of what people want at that
point in time… He had a deep sense of justice and explored what creativity meant
within our industry, an industry serving celebrities and luxury, where influencers
know how to court the media and her courtisanes, whilst simply making
clothes…with only a needle and a humble piece of thread as our technology to
interpret modernity.
Again and again he proved his technical aptitude and art of making dresses that
flatter and uplift. We developed the fabric repertoire for modern couture, washing
and tumbling duchesse and taffetas to create broken fall, imperfect frayed edges,
ancient metallic sheens, antiquity in your hands… We made lace to not reveal too
much, keep the secret of age, preserve seduction; we made colour to lift the spirit,
prints to ornate our narrative. Alber was always a keen storyteller and he believed in
making people look beautiful and making clothes for real people.
Of humble origins , from Morocco his family migrated to Israel where Alber served in
the army and learned the value of community on kibbutz . When his father died, his
mother raised the family on her own and Alber always talked about her with
closeness and deep respect for someone who “could make a plate of olives and
some bread taste wonderful and different every day”. Alber always said to us that he
didn’t believe in “Sunday best”, as a child he had always looked at the crystal
glasses and china dinner service for special occasions with great lust, and his motto
for us was to always put the best out for each and every day. He believed in
creativity with no restraint, expecting each designer in his team to offer their full
potential, he said many times how to work in fashion you entered a business of
workoholics. But he also respected working mothers and the fact that many women
he worked with had children and families to care for, partners to go back to…
A rare thought in the world of fashion.
My collaboration with Alber started in 2001, when we had to build up Lanvin from a
dying status of couture house on the cusp of extinction to the iconic Faubourg st
Honore label it was to become. We worked tirelessly to do this, Alber covered
everything from the fabric choice to the shop windows, dressing them himself,
merchandising the shop with great care.

It was a privilege to dye his colours, we could see them dancing on the women: he
loved variation and musical harmonies where an element of discord could lighten the
iterations of a hue, creating more vibration, more energy on the catwalk as corals
and reds and skin-tones mixed on the runway. Working with him we could feel his
electricity and intelligence, it was a great honour to serve his talent which as Macron
quoted “extended and enriched the line of designers who forged the legend of
French elegance.” 

Yet Alber always reminded us, come on guys, “we are only making dresses, it is
pretty insignificant”; he was often singularly humble, after so much time to teach and
observe, he would agree with Timothy Morton that in the bigger scheme of things,
“we are but ephemeral manifestations of DNA”, here to pass on leaving little trace.
His imprint on fashion however is historical, his vision of couture being resolutely
brought into the modern digital era. His reflection on how to “do good” and make
clothes whilst“being good” would inspire many setting out to explore values within
fashion.
Personally, I will miss his encouragement, incisive humour and vulnerable sensitivity,
my only solace in hearing of his death is to know his love of hospitals. Alber always
said he should have chosen to work in medicine, it would have been more
meaningful. He was a famous hypochondriac and often claimed he would love to go
on holiday at the Hopital Americain in Paris, it is fitting then that his last great
adventure should be in a great hospital.
I send all my love and prayers to his loved ones, Alber always treasured family and I
know his own will miss him deeply, especially his sister and his partner Alex Koo.
Alber, we mourn you and wish you be at peace.
Goodbye dear friend.

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