Alaïa S/S 2022 Paris

[Cute]

The physical show happened today but the video will be released tomorrow.

 

[GERGIN]

I’m really excited from the runway!

This still feels very Alaia!

 

[YohjiAddict]

I was so confused when I saw a picture of the sitting arrangement and everything just ready for the show...I thought the show was tomorrow.

 

[dior_couture1245]

From the previews I’ve seen…the clothes seem nice enough, but they’re still so tinged with this thing clothes and accessories have to look like now…I don’t even know how to describe it exactly…but there’s just nothing unpredictable about any of it.

And I will say, too. Models today cannot sell clothes. They don’t know how to do it. Even when they try, they flop. It’s not good. They bring everything down.

 

[jeanclaude]

Generic...Vanessa Friedman saying "Recognize the hood, the feathers?" feels desperate...and hilarious!

 

[Cute]

instagram/declanchan

 

[Lola701]

The coats were great but overall, it felt very gimmicky.
The thing about Alaia is that it was straight to the point. It was clear and it didn’t felt gimmicky and that’s how it became kind of « essentials ».

I find it weird to see how Pieter tried to mix everything in one show. It’s too much…You have the denim from 86 next to the dress from 91…There’s a lack of cohesion and the whole thing, rather than designed, feels very « customized ».

The work of Alaia is maybe one of the few that didn’t need to be modernized. If you don’t have anything new to say or to add, just leave it like it is…Adding fringes on a side of a dress is gimmicky.

Alaia designed his clothes to be worn. And I see a lot of unwearable things.

‘This reminds me of the discussion in the thread of Dior’s latest collection about referencing the archives and understanding the philosophy. This is a prime example. All I see is archives but the essence is not there.

Alaia is a house that makes money from the clothes. If the clothes aren’t wearable or desirable, what’s the point?

There are many angles he could have touched for Alaia but he missed it.

That being said, the coat on Liya and the animal print situation with the coat and matching dress on Marte are fabulous! I want them!

I want Pieter to succeed so I hope his next collection will be more focused.

 

[depordetioz]

you look at it and instantly feel the lack of confidence. I think he was maybe too scared so he got lost in the archives. maybe next time

 

[rip_ian curtis]

What I can see from the previews I guess it’s... ok? It looks like someone else taking over the house and attempting the Alaia look (which is what the situation is, no matter how you look at it). However, seeing this also makes me question if they really need this? Alaia is so iconic and timeless that maybe they could have survived without Pieter.

To be honest I was fearing for some unflattering, crafty, colourful mess with silly styling tricks, so at least it’s not that.

 

[bc collector]

It's hard to judge Mulier's debut from the snippets surfaced on IG but from what I could see I found it quite convincing.
Whereas I partially agree that maybe some more focus might have helped, I don't get the gimmicky criticism...I think he tried to give his spin to some iconic - God, I know, the word... - looks from Alaia's history but it did not strike me as an unwearable collection, a notion that is subject to varying personal standards, anyway.
(if anything, because the same day has offered us another eyesore from Mr Abloh, who scored full points both under the unwearable and gimmicky chapters...just to give us some perspective on the matter).
And I don't think the house of Alaia could have gone much longer on the re-edition of archive pieces, however fascinating the idea that a piece of clothing can have the same time endurance of a piece of furniture, for example...without the spark of newness not even the amazing legacy of Azzedine could support itself on the long run. It's highly delusional to think otherwise.

 

[Lola701]

It's hard to judge Mulier's debut from the snippets surfaced on IG but from what I could see I found it quite convincing.
Whereas I partially agree that maybe some more focus might have helped, I don't get the gimmicky criticism...I think he tried to give his spin to some iconic - God, I know, the word... - looks from Alaia's history but it did not strike me as an unwearable collection, a notion that is subject to varying personal standards, anyway.
(if anything, because the same day has offered us another eyesore from Mr Abloh, who scored full points both under the unwearable and gimmicky chapters...just to give us some perspective on the matter).
And I don't think the house of Alaia could have gone much longer on the re-edition of archive pieces, however fascinating the idea that a piece of clothing can have the same time endurance of a piece of furniture, for example...without the spark of newness not even the amazing legacy of Azzedine could support itself on the long run. It's highly delusional to think otherwise.

I largely agree on the last part…
But tbh, I expected more of him if it makes sense. Maybe more pantsuits (something Alaia didn’t really do a lot)…More Pieter in a way because this is after all his introduction to the world.
The collection is not bad but it’s just a parade of modified versions of existing designs that tbh, didn’t need to be touched (even more considering how often Alaia has re-released those pieces, even before his death).

Alaia has been referenced by many designers. Right now I think about McQueen’s SS2006 or Helmut Lang’s SS2001 collections. You saw Alaia but it had depth.

But I have hope in him. I just think he just need to focus. The pressure was obviously high and he had all his famous clients in the Audience (Victoire de Castellane for example only wears Alaia) so I get the feeling to say « I’m not here to destroy everything ».

I wonder if McKenna or Cerf de Dudzeele were somehow involved in this…As they are historic stylists for the house, because a lot of those gimmicks I’m seeing are styling elements. There are great pieces again but it feels disjointed.

 

[Frederic01]

hk.asiatatler.com/style/first-look-pieter-muliers-debut-for-alaia/

 

[Frederic01]

Love this collection, it's super chic! I want everything!

On a side note, why did they not livestream the show? I don't understand why they want people to wait one day later to see a show that happened a day before in front of an audience that has already posted about it on social?

 

[dior_couture1245]

Honestly…it kind of looks cheap the more I see it.

 

[Cute]

Love this collection, it's super chic! I want everything!

On a side note, why did they not livestream the show? I don't understand why they want people to wait one day later to see a show that happened a day before in front of an audience that has already posted about it on social?

I assume that they did this to edit out any mishaps and do some intricate cuts to show the show space and details.

--

 

[jeanclaude]

The more I look this collection, the more I see it looks cheap. It does not look like haute couture.
It´s like a recreation of Alaïa "greatest hits" made by students at any expensive fashion school...

 

[Frederic01]

The more I look this collection, the more I see it looks cheap. It does not look like haute couture.
It´s like a recreation of Alaïa "greatest hits" made by students at any expensive fashion school...

To my understanding, only a portion of these looks are Haute Couture. The majority of this is ready-to-wear for Spring Summer 2022.

 

[Frederic01]

Review from Angelo Flaccavento of BoF:

The Humility of Pieter Mulier’s Alaïa Debut
The designer was supremely faithful to Azzedine Alaïa with a celebration of female beauty that oozed energy and sexuality, reports Angelo Flaccavento.



How does one stand up to an undisputed master? By being humble.

This is the route that Pieter Mulier chose for his debut as creative director of the house of Alaïa. Instead of putting his own ego forward, Mulier was supremely faithful to founder Azzedine Alaïa — up to a point. It takes maturity to manage such a balance. Taste and vision, too.

“I want to bring Alaïa back to the street, make it more democratic,” said Mulier backstage. Not democratic as in sportswear, but democratic as in easy. The show was held dans la rue: on the Rue de Moussy in the Marais, to be precise, a street to which Alaïa had a visceral attachment. There was an immediacy and an ease to the clothes: masculine tailoring, viscose dresses, Tunisian capes, roomy coats and form-fitting tubes that had an instant goddess effect.

The collection clearly reconnected with what Alaïa was doing in the early Eighties, but it was completely of the now. Sensuality is what hit home in the most charming of ways: a celebration of female beauty and feminine forms that oozed energy and sexuality, while keeping vulgarity at bay. Vittoria Ceretti — wrapped in a cocooning grey coat, head closed in a medieval hood, waist cinched — was wonderfully sexual, with not an ounce of skin on show.

Mulier let the clothing do all the talking in this debut, which is possibly the humblest and the boldest move a designer can make nowadays: no social media tricks, no influencer casting, just a love for clothes-making and the stubborn aim to celebrate beauty.

BusinessofFashion.com/

 

[TaylorBinque]

This is an okay collection. It's more about the archive and try to make it trendy than being just Alaia. I do see some nice pieces but then just some unflattering pieces (which completely missed the marks for the house of Alaia here.)

I do hope that for next collection he will focus more and just keep it simple. You don't need more than 35 looks to make a great collection.

 

[Salvatore]

I love Azzedine Alaïa’s work and I find this offering from Pieter to be surprisingly oké. It’s not spectacular, lacking attitude, and has nothing to do with haute couture from what my eyes can see, but for a first collection it’s doable. I wish him the best as he seems like a kind person and lived under Raf’s egotistical and pretentious shadow.