must-haveCollab
Alber’s world
Many in the fashion industry were heartbroken when Alber Elbaz stepped away from Lanvin in 2015. But thanks to a new collaboration with LeSportsac, the jovial designer with the adorable bow-tie collection is back to shine a little of his light on us once again. Oh, Alber, how we’ve missed you! BY CHARLES MANNING
FA S H I O N W E E K D A I LY. C O M
How’d your collaboration with LeSportsac come about? I took a few years off [after leaving Lanvin] and I was traveling the world and I thought, since fashion is such a bag industry, let me go to a bag company. Also, walking and walking and walking around the world, you see that so many people are wearing fabric bags now. So, let’s see what other opportunities are there. Here is a company that has so much history, and with those specific bags, what I really had to do was sketch. Because the bags already existed; the shapes were already there. So I sketched a lot of women because I think we are in an era of women, so just for love and support, here I am. All about women. Did you make any discoveries in the process of designing your collection? Any surprises? What surprised me was that everything can be done! If
you need a special zipper, they can make it. If you need a special technique, they will search for it. There are no limits, in a way. You think a big company will be all about limits and formulas, but it wasn’t, and that was a real pleasure. You’ve done a lot of collaborations over the years— H&M, Lancôme, Frederic Malle, Converse—what draws you to this sort of work? It’s a big question: Why are there so many collaborations in the world? What is it that now is really pushing everyone to collaborate? What happened? I mean, what really happened? The why is always more interesting for me than the what. Is it that we are looking for community? Are we feeling lonely, so we want to work together? Is it about looking for knowhow? Is this all about promotion? I think that it’s all of
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IN THE BAG Elbaz and ads from his collaboration with LeSportsac.
