A Tribute to Alber Elbaz with Christine Vachon, Christopher Petkanas and Dana Thomas

On April 24th, the fashion designer, Alber Elbaz, died in Paris. He was 59 and the cause was Covid-19. This episode is a tribute to the women’s fashion designer who rose to fame when - after a stint designing ready-to-wear at Guy Laroche - Pierre Bergé appointed him to be a creative director at the House of Saint Laurent. Following his short tenure at Saint Laurent, Alber Elbaz went on to resurrect the house of Lanvin. He reigned there as creative director for 14 years and the fashion world fell in love with the modern femininity he channeled into the long dormant brand.  Special people talk about Alber Elbaz including the award-winning independent film producer, Christine Vachon. She worked with Alber Elbaz when he was Senior Designer at Geoffrey Beene in New York and Mr. Beene asked him to supervise the making of Tom Kalin’s short film, Geoffrey Beene 30. Christine produced the film with her partner at Killer Films, Pam Koffler. Christopher Petkanas - the author of Loulou & Yves: The Untold Story of Loulou de la Falaise and the House of Saint Laurent - weighs in on how Alber Elbaz made the leap from Guy Laroche to Saint Laurent where he was charged with rejuvenating Rive Gauche women’s wear. The author Dana Thomas assesses Alber’s contribution to fashion and - how just prior to his passing he had launched A-Z Factory. This was his own fashion house that was size-inclusive, seasonless and technically innovative.