The Israeli designer and former creative director of Lanvin, who had founded the new AZ Factory project together with Richemont, leaves us.

<a href="https://www.lofficielitalia.com/fashion-week/azfactory-alber-elbaz-show-fashion-look-sfilata-immagini" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Designer Alber Elbaz</a> leaves us on Saturday 24 April, a death that occurred after three difficult weeks of fighting Covid-19 at the American Hospital in Paris. The <a href="https://www.lofficielitalia.com/moda/tod-s-celebra-la-felicita-con-alber-elbaz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israeli designer</a>&nbsp;had spent 14 years in the Maison <a href="https://www.lofficielitalia.com/moda/ritorno-alla-moda-di-alber-elbaz-azfactory-lily-collins-emily-in-paris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lanvin</a> where he was able to relaunch the brand with his eclectic spirit. He had recently introduced his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/richemont_group/?hl=it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Richemont-</a>backed <a href="https://www.lofficielitalia.com/moda/lily-collins-sam-taylor-johnson-alber-elbaz-attrice-emily-in-paris-cover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AZ Factory brand.</a>
"I have lost not only a colleague but a close friend," explained Johann Rupert, President and Founder of the Richemont company. "We are devastated &mdash; Alber passed away from COVID after being in hospital for three weeks &mdash; so tragic."

THE BIOGRAPHY OF ALBER ELBAZ

Israeli designer Alber Elbaz was born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1961, and moved to Israel at the age of 10. After college, his first brush with fashion was with the American designer Geoffrey Beene. Alber Elbaz was encouraged by his mother to move to New York from 1989 to 1996 to pursue his career as a designer. In the late 1990s, he became the creative director of Yves Saint Laurent for a short time. We all remember Alber Elbaz as an ironic and witty designer. He valued and loved women. He made clothes that moved with the body and freed the woman from any constriction.
Alber Elbaz had spent 14 years in the Maison Lanvin where he was able to relaunch the French brand. In 2019, Diego Della Valle called him to design the TOD's Happy Moments by Alber Elbaz capsule collection, and in 2020 the designer presented his latest project, AZ Factory, together with the Swiss company, Richemont. In January 2021, he presented his first collection with a young, sporty, and dynamic allure.&nbsp;
Scroll down to find out more about Alber Elbaz's death and his interview with Lily Collins for L'Officiel Italia.

The cover of L'Officiel Italia designed by Alber Elbaz

Alber Elbaz had recently been interviewed for <a href="https://www.lofficielitalia.com/moda/tod-s-celebra-la-felicita-con-alber-elbaz">L'Officiel Italia together with the leading actress of "Emily In Paris" Lily Collins.</a> In the interview, the recently deceased Israeli designer talked about his new experience with AZ Factory:
"For any artist, the blank page is the hardest thing to deal with. I don't know how it works with acting, Lily, but sometimes it seems to me that what I do is akin to having a baby. At first, it's not really like, "Oh wow, life is great," rather it's an, "Ouch, ouch, ouch," but then it comes out and you forget about the pain. The really hard thing is to let go of what you have built." He explained to Lily Collins, "After Lanvin, I decided not to do fashion for a few years, because I was no longer in love with it, and yet it was the only thing I knew how to do. I received so many offers from the big Maisons, and I didn't want to be a diva, I just felt that I could not start again very soon. I started teaching, going to many incredible schools around the world and I understood what was coming then, the direction the world was going, before COVID-19 of course. And then I signed with Richemont, I started this start-up."
"I think there is a big difference between creating and recreating. In the past, my work has often been not just a recreating but replacing. This time I wanted to start from scratch, I have observed women over the past five years, I've been paying attention to everything they're going through, how their lives have changed. " Says Alber Elbaz, "I always said that if I was a Hollywood producer, the next James Bond would have turned him into Jane Bond, and I wouldn't have chosen a former model but a smart woman, regardless of age and size, because they really don't matter. I look at how women live today, you see them running in ten different directions as they try to be the best mother, wife, colleague ... I realized I had to find a solution &ndash; just what I am doing now, introducing new technologies, but also trying to go a little deeper, without stopping to define a fabulous look. I try to listen to women to understand what I can do to give them what they are dreaming of because after all, we don't live in a world made only of algorithms and big data, or instinct and emotion. We can put them together, like yin and yang. It's not about choosing this or that, but about combining them. "

Fashion Designer Alber Elbaz Dies at the Age of 59 From COVID-19

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