Alaïa Resort 2026 Paris

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^^^ Fair enough. I can appreciate Phoebe— I can even appreciate the bane of current fashion, JW… I also see how she’s blatantly borrowed from so many other greater designers. And to her credit, she’s an achingly stylish individual herself, and because she’s also a woman who designs for woman, there is a genuine authenticity that a man designing for women simply can never touch. I understand.

At this point, a designer’s authenticity/rawness/realness doesn’t matter when the separates are hanging on the retail floor or up for grabs with DTC: It's just a garment. And to be fair to Pieter, he’s got some really solid garments— if one can get pass the branding.

i am sure some garments are good etc at today standart a chamsemr at uniqlo is also good so there is a wide net of good stuff around.

but for me luxury just good is not enough part that makes it high fashion is the spirit of the idea and halo around something, thats why its high as in above the just physical experience of material cut and sewn together on a rack.

you need to believe in the concept first i don't believe in his spirit /concept because to me its scientology of fashion to many holes in the concept. lol

As phoebe herself said it's just a pants, she has distance to her work yet also she thing allot about it in a feeling way that's healthy and human.
where as pieter and his trio gang the make shallow things and connect concept esthetics to it as a higher thing when explaining their work to mean more.

with phoebe it's just more instinctive search to create a product in the process its spiritual/emotional let's say, but the goal or outcome is a good product/excellent as well sure, but you can sense its extra value in the non material.

similar to Azzedine he did very technical things but the emotion and spirit is also felt in the designs and presentations etc you just know its not just for show but a feeling of what life should be when making pr wearing clothes at the highest standard.

you can see this with food as well with the best chefs in the world or even the ones that don't have a michelin stars there is something that goes beyond how it looks on your plate.

art and movies or music can have also this height of experience.

transmission

 

[Salvatore]

Mostly because it’s a technique he is particularly obsessed with. It doesn’t make it any less difficult.
A lot of designers, with the same level of high techniques as John can do biais cut. The only difference is that because John is particularly obsessed by that, he went as far as cutting everything on a biais. He has really pushed his craft.

Sure, but it just sounds so laboured. I recently found myself getting annoyed at the fact that brands are saying this garment took 10 billion lightyears to make a tshirt to justify pricing. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't ... but it just sounds so contrived and depressing in a way now.

 

[yslforever]

My main take of the thread is that everyone describes Pieter as a "designer", which I concede he is, but noone would call him a "couturier". So comparing him to JG or Alber is a long stretch and pretty absurde imho.

Those bias cut dresses are passable to 90% of the customers, who don't know better, so that threshold is enough for Pieter and his C-suite.
"Very difficult", talk to my a**.

The leather pieces are super cute and luxe though.

 

[Kanzai]

Honestly, it’s impossible to truly inherit or replicate Alaia’s spirit because the man was a pure couturier in the strictest sense. He was a dedicated craftsman who cut his own patterns and sewed meticulously. There are very few designers like that, some very respected designers don’t even fit that type. I’ll give Pieter credit for trying to channel that energy, but his ego just gets in the way. He can’t seem to get rid of the clickbait gimmicks and that "high art wannabe" sterotype lol. You have to admit, OG Alaia's clothes was really tasteful, subtle, very IYKYK type. It’s the kind of fashion that deserves respect but sadly doesn’t generate hype in today’s landscape. The brand now is an editorial darling (condom dress comes to mind) and a mainstream media partner – something Azzedine, who used to live in his own bubble, would have absolutely hated. Azzedine hates Karl Lagerfeld because he's too pop culture so I think he'd curse Pieter LMAO (I don't like this attitude of Azzedine though, it's very narrow).

It’s such a stark contrast to the Japanese avant-garde designers who actually have their own distinct systems of aesthetics and clothes-making. Westerners love to project this idea that Rei Kawakubo is always referencing high concept art, but she notoriously hates explaining her work or intellectualizing clothes. She’s always owned the fact that she’s a businesswoman who wants to make something new. CdG has bunches of low-market lines and the brand can collab with massive corporate giants like Nike, Louis Vuitton, Asics, Converse etc and they couldn't care less about "diluting" the brand's creativity. Meanwhile, you have designers like Pieter or Matthieu Blazy constantly twisting archival references just to prove how "modern" and "innovative" they are. To me, it just comes off as performative intellectualism. Like, come on, it’s just dressmaking. You aren’t pushing society forward by collecting million euros paycheck while preaching about "anti-elitist" fashion.

 

[Norden]

I don’t think Pieters work at alaia is so bad. Considering Richemont who want to grow the brand beyond the constraints of its founder I think it’s all still rather discrete. Also this collection is fine, it’s obviously very commercial. I think what’s so grating about Pieters work is the sterility and the lack of humor and humanity. There’s such a detachment from women and how they dress, it comes through everything, from the models being cornered in the set to not being able to move in the clothes. His woman feels like and project and not a living soul. And a project might be good, but lacking in soul it becomes sterile and conceptual, which alaia is not.

At least the house hasn’t been run down like Helmut lang. A little positivity .