In Paris, Glimpses of Azzedine Alaïa’s Unrivalled Fashion Archive

PARIS — Collecting and preserving fashion was, for Azzedine Alaïa, about more than archiving his inspirations. It was a “cooperative attitude, a mark of solidarity towards those who, before me, wielded their scissors with pleasure and exactingness,” the late designer once said. “It is my tribute to all the trades and all the ideas that these clothes convey.”

Alaïa began collecting in 1968, when he had the opportunity to acquire…