Alaïa Resort 2026 Paris

[PDFSD]

^^^ 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 .

 

[THD96]

A very safe commercial pre-collection, nothing much to write about. The second look on Binx is my favorite.

I don't need to read the whole review, just a little snippet above is already too much for me, I'm so over it. Like Pieter, babe chill, it's just a pre-collection, save all of that intellectual energy for the main collection.

 

[psychopsist]

^ Agreed

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.

It’s been said to death, but agreed. I actually don’t like the “it’s just clothes” thinking for this reason- I feel many like Pieter, Rafiuccia, JWA, etc think exactly this- oh it’s just clothes, make whatever you want! And so it becomes this “creative” exercise of ‘what’s the most weird, ridiculous, bizarre, surprising, kitschy, etc thing i can make. How can I catch a viewer off guard? How can I confuse them?”

And to me I find that very frustrating and almost demeaning. It’s like the gods looking down on us mortals, crafting chimp-opotamus and croco-dogs just to say that they did, flexing that they can ‘create’ whatever and we lesser beings simply must react.

Clothes aren’t just a decorative object, they have a function: to be worn. And so “high fashion” to me should be the best, most beautiful things a person can wear. A painting just hangs there- so yeah, paint whatever you want. But a good couch is comfortable to sit on, a good lamp sits up straight and shines, a good key unlocks a door, and good fashion elevates the act of covering up from survival to artistry, loincloth to couture.

There’s still a wide range- good fashion can make you look dark, or light, vivacious, or dainty, or suave, or elegant, sharp, deadly, delectable, animal, divine, man woman young old etc. There can be narrative and surrealism and avant garde and deconstruction and there can be new things I don’t yet have words for. But it should be, beneath that, concerned with how it is worn and how it makes you(including your body) look and feel. To me, this is the humane, mutualistic approach, where I feel like I’m getting something back from fashion, and it isn’t just bored deities playing tricks because they can.

You chose the art that has to be put on a human body to be fully realized. Honor that.

 

[Kanzai]

Clothes aren’t just a decorative object, they have a function: to be worn. And so “high fashion” to me should be the best, most beautiful things a person can wear. A painting just hangs there- so yeah, paint whatever you want. But a good couch is comfortable to sit on, a good lamp sits up straight and shines, a good key unlocks a door, and good fashion elevates the act of covering up from survival to artistry, loincloth to couture.

Love that you keep recycling that Armani quote LOL. Honestly, I’ve always had a big love for Armani, not just for the clothes (it’s like this weird spiritual connection I can’t even explain, I'm a brain-dead stan), but because of his views on fashion. God, I mean, I’m never actually inspired by any designer, they aren't role models to me IRL, they are not the guys that I want to be, nor do I learn anything from them. Step outside this forum and I honestly respect my high school teachers more than any of them lol. Armani really fanboyed over Issey Miyake because Issey’s take on fashion was so stupidly humanist and rational: that clothes are meaningless if they don't serve the person wearing them. Like Issey said in that interview with Fondation Cartier:

"What I wish to express through Making Things is that I create, not to express my ego, my personality, but to try and bring answers to those who are asking themselves questions about how we should live in it."

"A design-er cannot be understood if he relies solely on his own ego. Clothes are of no interest except insofar as they provoke sentiments and reactions in those who wear them."

"I have always said that clothes owe their existence as much to the people who wear them as to the people who make them."

"As opposed to the words 'haute couture', 'mode' or 'fashion,' which imply the quest for novelty, my work is above all a long-term search.

"I have always started by looking at the body, since that’s the essential thing. The body is thrilling. My greatest desire is to make clothes that are as thrilling as the body."

"I realised that what I had to make were simple, everyday clothes, like jeans and T-shirts... but more beautiful! ... I try to provoke emotion. That’s no doubt why there is poetry in and an aesthetic to my clothes. If there were none, no-one would pay attention to what I do."

"If you take T-shirts or pairs of jeans, they can never cause any sort of surprise since people always know what to expect from them. I prefer to surprise people, to cause emotion."

"My work consists, above all, of simplifying and purifying. My role is to make things change, to try new ideas. That’s the only way to move forward. Just showing the result of my work doesn't interest me; I want to show the process."

"The word 'créateur' is the one I have most problems with, or 'couturier.' ... No-one wants to be the friend of a 'designer'! Design might carry with it a slight hint of arrogance! That's why 'making things' is as much an activity for the butcher or the corner store assistant. 'Making things' allows you to have the same state of mind as ordinary people."

"People are always making reference to the past, but my own thought takes place in the present, in all its depth and reality... I simply think that the present moment is a bit behind itself... the way we live and dress has constantly to be projected a little into the future."

"I spent many years working on collections in Paris, and my feeling was that, in addition to the clothes reserved for an elite, there should be another clothing style aimed at a wider female audience, a style that would not be restric-ted to a particular age or profession, and which would be inspired by current aesthetics. At the same time it would be functional and go beyond the fads and trends of the moment."

FULL READ: Issey Miyake: Making Things, 1999 | Fashion Scans | ARCHIVE.pdf

 

[PDFSD]

Love that you keep recycling that Armani quote LOL. Honestly, I’ve always had a big love for Armani, not just for the clothes (it’s like this weird spiritual connection I can’t even explain, I'm a brain-dead stan), but because of his views on fashion. God, I mean, I’m never actually inspired by any designer, they aren't role models to me IRL, they are not the guys that I want to be, nor do I learn anything from them. Step outside this forum and I honestly respect my high school teachers more than any of them lol. Armani really fanboyed over Issey Miyake because Issey’s take on fashion was so stupidly humanist and rational: that clothes are meaningless if they don't serve the person wearing them. Like Issey said in that interview with Fondation Cartier:















FULL READ: Issey Miyake: Making Things, 1999 | Fashion Scans | ARCHIVE.pdf

Guys, it’s not a Armani love affair Issey Miyake thread. 😂

 

[Kanzai]

^Better than Trump and Bubba if it’s true. @yslforever said that Pierre Berge hated Issey so much for successfully stealing any guys he chasing.

 

[psychopsist]

I swear I wasn’t even meaning to reference Armani lol. It’s just my actual opinion.

I don’t really have anything more to say about this collection though, for now

 

[Kanzai]

I have to admit that I like Pieter way more than Raf and Blazy, his campaigns for the house are always in my top 3 of the season, also great casting. He knows what it is to make things look “high fashion”.

 

[psychopsist]

Honestly, off the top of my head, the collection I’ve enjoyed the most from him might be his debut. It had life(I don’t just mean the sparkles). It just wasn’t so art gallery.

 

[QuantumCouture]

Generally safe collection, somewhat strict approach, some really good proportions here and there. Interesting to see streetwear references at Alaïa.

 

[PDFSD]

Honestly, off the top of my head, the collection I’ve enjoyed the most from him might be his debut. It had life(I don’t just mean the sparkles). It just wasn’t so art gallery.
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because it was the most Alaia he ever did even if it was Alaia on ozempic non the less