London museum to honour fashion giant Alaia with 2018 show

French-Tunisian fashion designer Azzedine Alaia will be honoured by London's Design Museum with a major exhibition next year following his death on November 18 at the age of 77. "Azzedine Alaia: The Couturier" will run from May 10 to October 7, showcasing more than 60 pieces personally selected by the iconic designer. "Azzedine Alaia was recognised throughout his life as a master couturier who expressed the timeless beauty of the female form in the most refined degree of haute couture," the museum said. "The Design Museum will now present this unique exhibition planned by Alaia himself, exploring his passion and energy for fashion as he himself intended it to be seen." Alaia was born to a farming family in Tunisia in 1940 and studied sculpture at the fine arts school in Tunis before working at a modest neighbourhood dressmaker's shop. He rose to fame in the 1980s, refusing to march to the beat of international fashion weeks and instead releasing his collections in his own time, with scant concern for publicity. He became known as the King of Cling for his form-fitting gowns. "I like women," he told AFP in a 2013 interview. "I never think about doing new things, about being creative, but about making clothing that will make women beautiful."