In April this year the 59 year old fashion designer Alber Elbaz died of Corona. Only a few months earlier Elbaz had launched the new fashion label AZ Factory. This first presentation was developed in collaboration with Borre Akkersdijk, the innovative Dutch knitting pioneer.

Elbaz is seen as an innovator in the fashion industry. He was born in Cassablanca and educated in Israel before he got a job at the fashion house Geoffry Beene in New York. His next move was to Paris where he worked for Guy Laroche, YSL Rive Gauche and Lanvin. Many celebs got dressed-up his designs, including Beyoné and Rihanna. Elbaz rejuvenated Lanvin and entered into a collab with H&M in 2010. But the fashion house sacked him five years later.

Rumor was that Elbaz would take the place of Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, but instead he took a few years off. Then he decided to launch his own label AZ Factory, under the umbrella of the Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont. His first new presentation in Jan 2021 was welcomed with enthusiasm. And then he died.

But that is not the end of this story. The fashion industry paid hommage to this delightful designer with a dedicated show at Paris Fashion Week. The event Love Brings Love was inspired on Théatre de la Mode, a 1945 fashion show that brought together more than sixty French couturiers as an expression of creativity and solidarity in the wake of World War II.