How Alber Elbaz Showed Alina Cho the Importance of Being Nice

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If Alber Elbaz's thoughts on weight or his fashion dancing haven't won you over yet, prepare to be persuaded otherwise. Last night, he received the 50th anniversary Geoffrey Beene Fashion Impact Award at the Waldorf Astoria in New York as a part of the 2013 YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund Geoffrey Beene Awards. The event also honored more than 100 college students nationwide, who were given scholarships by the YMA FSF and Geoffrey Beene Gives Back organizations to promote fashion education. We caught up with CNN'sAlina Cho, who hosted the event, who shared a heart-melting personal story about none other than Mr. Elbaz himself.

"About a year and a half ago I did profile on Alber for CNN. It was at a very sad time in my life. I had just lost my father. We were in Paris; I was with my mother. I had actually brought my mother to the studio and I wasn't quite sure how Alber would respond because it was a very stressful time. It was right before his show and it's not necessarily normal protocol to bring your mother to a shoot. But I brought her there and he came over, said hello to me, and was very kind. Then, he went right over to my mother, put a necklace around her neck, and said, 'I have a weakness for moms.'

My point is that he might be a brilliant designer, but on that day he really became my friend...I think that though talent, hard work, and ambition is very, very important in terms of making it in fashion, I think that being nice can be a really great asset as well. If I can give any piece of advice to these kids it would be as you move up the ladder, be nice. You never know when that person who is sewing the clothes might be a big-name designer."

Consider our hearts melted.
· Alber Elbaz on Why Being Overweight Is a Good Thing [Racked]
· Alber Elbaz Taps Regular Old Folks for Lanvin's Fall Ad Campaign [Racked]