graphics In 2006, Elbaz introduced new packaging for Lanvin, featuring a light forget-me-not blue color, a favorite shade which Lanvin purportedly had seen in a Fra Angelico fresco. Packaging included shopping bags imprinted with Paul Iribe's 1907 illustration of Lanvin and her daughter Marguerite, and shoe boxes designed like antique library files, tied with black ribbons to emphasize the precious nature of the product. Elbaz illustrated the song "Lady Jane" in singer-songwriter Mika's extended play Songs for Sorrow. In 2012, Rizzoli published a book of 3,000 photographs documenting Elbaz's work for Lanvin. In 2015, Elbaz curated "Alber Elbaz/Lanvin: Manifeste," a photography exhibition at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. The show exhibited more than 350 photographs taken during his time at Lanvin as well as sketches and design mock-ups. Personal life Elbaz's life partner since circa 1993 was Alex Koo, Lanvin's director of merchandising. Elbaz often spoke of being overweight and how it influenced his designs. In 2009 he told journalist Ariel Levy, I do things without décolleté; nothing is transparent ... I am overweight, so I am very, very aware of what to show and what not to show, and I am sure there is a huge link with being an overweight designer and the work I do. My fantasy is to be skinny, you see? I bring that fantasy into the lightness – I take off the corset and bring comfort and all these things I don't have. What I bring is everything that I don't have. This is the fantasy.Despite international acclaim Elbaz avoided stepping into celebrity circles himself, often likening his work to a "concierge's in a good hotel in Manhattan" who spent his days working with famous and wealthy clients, but went home at night to the outer boroughs, and said this distance from "the fantasy" of fashion helped him maintain its power in his work. Joel Arthur Rosenthal, the Brooklyn-born designer of the ultra luxury jewelry line JAR, was Elbaz's closest friend. Elbaz died of COVID-19 on 24 April 2021 at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine in suburban Paris, France. He was months from his 60th birthday. Awards 2005 – International Award, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) 2007 – Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur 2007 – One of Times 100 Most Influential People in the World 2014 – Honorary doctorate awarded by the Royal College of Art 2015 – Superstar