Designer Alaia, known for clingy ’80s style, dies

PARIS — Tunisian-born designer Azzedine Alaia, a fashion iconoclast whose clingy styles helped define the 1980s and who dressed famous women from Hollywood to the White House, has died.

The French Haute Couture Federation announced Alaia’s death on Saturday without providing details. Twitter tributes to his influence on fashion poured in from around the world.

Alaia sometimes was dubbed the “king of cling” for the sculptural, form-fitting designs he first popularized during the 1980s and updated over the decades. His clients included women as diverse as Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Grace Jones and Greta Garbo.

Secretive and known as a fashion rebel, Alaia was based in Paris for decades but did not take part in the French capital’s seasonal fashion frenzy or flashy ad campaigns. Instead, he showed privately on his own schedule.

The couture federation said Alaia was born in 1940, while the Tunisian Culture Ministry said he was born in 1942. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained.

The supermodel Naomi Campbell, who enjoyed a close relationship with Alaia for many years and affectionately called him “Papa,” has credited the designer with helping launch her career and taking care of her like a father when she met him in Paris at age 16.

News of his death sparked a flurry

Azzedine Alaia