photo: wmagazine.com

Alber Elbaz was born in Casablanca, Morocco and immigrated to Israel with his family when he was 10. He considers himself an Israeli and has served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).  Elbaz studied at the Skenkar College of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan.

Elbaz moved to New York City in 1985 and worked for George F. Couture. He then worked for Geoffrey Beene for seven years. In 1997 Alber Elbaz was hired by the firm of Guy Laroche and in 1998 he was designing ready-to-wear women’s clothing for Yves Saint Laurent.

When the Gucci Group purchased YSL Rive Gauche, Gucci design director, Tom Ford, dismissed Elbaz after three collections. Elbaz worked for Krizia in Italy and became quite successful.

In 2001 Elbaz was appointed artistic director of Lanvin in Paris. The company was purchased by Harmonie S.A., a Taiwanese firm, who hired Elbaz. However, Lanvin announced in October of 2015 that it had severed ties with Alber Elbaz.

Alber Elbaz lives with his life partner, Alex Koo, Lanvin’s director of marketing.

photo: theguardian.com