This article is authorized from iFashion Weekend Pictorial

If it weren’t for our lens, you would be hard-pressed to see Alber Elbaz taking a leisurely nap on the bench—yes, half a year after bidding farewell to Lanvin, designer Elbaz began to enjoy a more active lifestyle, seriously dividing time between friends, travel, and of course himself. Although he temporarily stepped down from the fashion stage, his "farewell" was not a true farewell, but a kind of abandonment. During the conversation with him, I realized this even more: this legendary designer will not go far away. Retaining the ability to create dreams and moderately communicating with real life is the law of conservation that unites his mind and heart.

Since bidding farewell to Lanvin last October, Elbaz has not had such a long and relaxing vacation for a long time. Instead of considering trends or following market data, he left more time for himself and devoted himself to the spiritual wandering of dealing with people and art.

“When I see a work of art, I am not particularly eager to find out who the artist is and when and where the work was created. Because I will think about the things I know, and for those grand and distant things I don’t know, I will imagine them like dreams. My job, or my life, is to dream, and then think rationally.”

Elbaz has a polarized attitude towards the current reality that is so fast and uncontrollable. On the one hand, his attitude has to be said to be serious and critical. As he said when he left Lanvin, the fast-moving fashion system and the highly developed network technology have made us forget that "needle and thread" are the protagonists of the fashion world.

On the other hand, he shook hands with this phenomenon in a not extreme manner. Not good at playing in the online world, he began to post personal photos on Instagram, often accompanied by cute (of course, it also needs to be accompanied by(keyboard conversion) emoticon text. This does not mean any surrender or compromise, but a clear understanding of the wisdom and mind behind the essence of so-called "change". What supports Elbaz to coexist peacefully with all this is his innate romantic ability-to use dreams to release reality.

I was confused. I asked her if it was because no one in LA liked double chins? Then I immediately ran to the clinic in Paris that many people went to. I told my attending doctor, please help me quickly, how can I get rid of this in dozens of hours (pointing to his chin)?

The next day, I took a plane to LA. I guess maybe I can say something here and get little response - because as my Parisian friend said: Americans don't like double chins. But you know what? In LA, when I met those friends, everyone liked me and welcomed me from the bottom of their hearts, and of course I did the same. I think my Parisian friends were wrong and there is nothing like a double chin.

The fashion world is switching rapidly between yesterday and today. Just like the news I just heard, just yesterday Hedi Slimane left Saint Laurent; before that, Raf Simons left Dior. And I also left Lanvin. I was wondering, what happened to all this?

Is there something wrong? That red light keeps flashing but we didn’t notice it? I think we need change, we need to make things better, and we need to listen to our own voices. We need to save time not because we are lazy, but because we need to work hard to become better.

I am not denying the role of photos and images. I also love taking photos. But I would rather see people and stories whose spiritual world is as rich as their appearance. People need stories. This reminds me of when I first entered YSL many years ago. I stayed in the YSL archives for a whole month. I was so excited to see those classic designs that I was beyond words. This feeling was not only conveyed visually.

I enjoy writing, and I hope to instill my own understanding in my writing: What is fashion today? What do we want it to be? And what is the corresponding solution? My dream since childhood was to be a doctor, not a designer. So for me, finding a solution to the crux is the most important thing.

Fashion is facing a huge change today. In the storm of great changes, you can build a wall to isolate yourself from it; or you can find a support point to protect yourself in the storm, and it is best to get something from it.

Text:

Interview/Writing_Chuyu Editor_Jocelyn Zhou

Film:

Producer_Shaway Yeh Producer_Yaohui

Photography_Fan Qing/LY Post-production_Zhao Dan/Tsinghua University Fashion Education

Venue Acknowledgment_Temple Dongjingyuan