L'invité du dimanche, Le temps des images -1971

extract from "L'invité du dimanche, Le temps des images", Bernard Zehrfuss : INA archives, 14 March 1971, with Leila Menchari and Azzedine Alaïa, RTF/ORTF collection

In 1956, Azzedine Alaïa left Tunisia with a letter of recommendation that enabled him to meet Simone Zehrfuss, a woman from Tunisian high society, wife of the great architect Bernard Zehrfuss, who from 1943 to 1948 was director of the Architecture Department of the Protectorate's Public Works Department in Tunis.

Very quickly, a deep friendship developed between the couple and the young designer who had just arrived in Paris with his best friend Leila Menchari. The Zerhfuss family would later help him set up shop and Simone would provide him with furniture, examples of modernity that would help develop Azzedine Alaïa's immoderate taste in design.

Tunisia, architecture, culture, art, all contribute to fostering relationships of deep sympathy and affection between the Zehrfuss, Leila Menchari and Azzedine Alaïa.

In this interview, a rare and precious testimony to the strong and constant bond that has united them throughout their lives, the two of them speak, each in their own way, of their work and their passion. Leila Menchari, creator of the window displays for Hermès, talks about her work as a decorator and Azzedine Alaïa about his role as a couturier and his relationship with the body.