Maison Alaïa Makes a Major Comeback with Pieter Mulier’s Debut

Four years later, Alaïa’s legacy lives on

Belgian designer Pieter Mulier has officially had his Alaïa debut. The newly appointed creative director had big shoes to fill, and needless to say, he didn’t disappoint. Taking the label back to its roots, the show took place in the Parisian quarter of the Marais, on the historic Rue de Moussy, home of the French fashion house since 1987. Mulier’s tribute to the Tunisian designer’s legacy didn’t end there. 

Paying tribute to Maison Alaïa’s core ethos, values as well as to the late founder who sadly passed away back in 2017, Alaïa’s AW22 collection was also an ode to femininity which the former chair, Azzedine Alaïa, fondly cherished. Centring the collection around the female body, Mulier’s highlighted the comfort, structure, and silhouette of the new line of clothes, making them almost a malleable second skin. 

One of very few labels that held a  physical show this year in Paris, the Mediterranean rooted brand revealed designs that screamed of revival and rebirth and are believed to be a return to the label’s main fundamentals while finding no better way than going back to basics to mark the beginning of this new cycle.

For the powerhouse’s first event since the loss of their widely acclaimed Tunisian creative, leather, metal, knit and cotton-based textiles were used in unconventional silhouettes and unexpected occurrences; bringing the industry to its knees through unique, elegant yet transgressive ornaments of clothing. 

Playing with peculiarly shaped fabrics, materials and frames, embellishment here is introduced and almost firmly keyed and cemented into the structure of the clothes and accessories themselves. 

Modern and complex yet simple and pure, the hooded silhouettes and drapery are strongly evocative and reminiscent of Alaïa’s origins as well as his unparalleled knowledge of French couture – one thing is for sure, no one does fashion like Alaïa does and Mulier is definitely living up to the expectation. 

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