Azzedine Alaia: Social Context
Tunisia = North African Arab country
Tunisia = Tumultuous political environment
1981 = Tunisia - colonised by the french
Invasion was resisted with aggression and violence - Tunisians wanted to be independent
March 20th 1956 = Tunisian Independence
Occupation = a little over 7 years
French Occupation
French-educated Tunisian Elite = assimilated well
French Culture = link to western ideals appealed to the desire for modernization
Movement
“Franco-Tunisian cooperation to achieve a modern liberal state”
made up = Turkish aristocracy - diminished in 1912
1956 = Establishment of Independence
Habib Bourguiba = elected president - big part of gaining independence for Tunisia
Considered = the “Supreme Warrior of the Nation”
Therefore = culture = didn't criticise the president
Has very western (progressive) Ideals = didn't sit well with Arab world
progressive laws for women's rights
revolutionary rational contradicted Sharia the Islamic code inspired by the Koran
Downfall
inability to secure a stable economy
Liberal ideals
1975
Bourguiba appointed leader for life by the nationalist assembly
1987
Ben Ali would gain power through a coup
declaration of Bourguiba being mentally unfit
Began dictatorship
Ended in 2011
beginning of Arab Spring
initiated in Tunisia
Algeria borders Tunisia
Alaia immigration to Paris the outbreak of the Algerian war would affect Alaia’s early career and acceptance into the industry