Four years after the passing of its founder, Maison Alaïa was back with a physical runway show, marking the debut of Pieter Mulier, best known as Raf Simons’s longtime right-hand man, took over as creative director, who was appointed as creative director of Maison Alaïa earlier this year.
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By the looks of his first collection for Winter/Spring 2022, Mulier will not be straying too far from Alaïa’s design codes. Mulier opened his outdoor show – with guests seated on wooden chairs lining Rue de Moussy, a street in Marais where Alaïa had lived and worked in for forty years and also where the couturier had truly built Maison Alaïa – with an interpretation of Alaïa’s famous hooded tailoring from 1984: here a length of wool draped over the head with two geometric panels drifting over the bosom and covering only what’s necessary. Then, Mulier focused on key silhouettes that have long been synonymous with the house – the bodysuits, the high-waisted denim, hole-punched corset belts, the hooded tops, the knits – that brought to mind some of the brand’s most iconic looks from over the years.
“This collection is intended as a thank you gift. To express my sincere respect and recognition for the work you have done. Four years after your final presentation, today, July 4th, I feel honored to present this collection”, said Mulier in a letter to Alaïa left on each seat of the catwalk. “I tried to be faithful to your creative approach. I also tried to enter your mind…but it’s impossible. I have so many questions. So many things I imagine. You: passionate, stubborn, charming. You who have drawn beauty more than fashion, as you like to say. Thank you, Azzedine, for your audacity that helps me today to take note of creation. Thank you for your unrivaled adulation of the female figure. You were a sculptor, a genius of the hand”.
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