Azzedine Alaïa F/W 2016.17 Paris

[Chanelcouture09]

*Albertozanoletti/Instagram

 

[Chanelcouture09]

 

[arlekindearrabal]

I love the frock on Mica. Look at the look on Victoire's face...

 

[TheoG]

From the images floating around, it looks fantastic! Alaïa, is so genuine and honest. Everyone talking about this new system, etc. but he seems to be above it all. He's a master!

 

[madzedre]

this is stunning

 

[Chanelcouture09]

Full collection Pt.1







WWD

 

[Chanelcouture09]

Full Collection Pt.2








*WWD

 

[Chanelcouture09]

Full Collection Pt.3








*WWD

 

[Chanelcouture09]

Full Collection Pt.4








*WWD

 

[Chanelcouture09]

Full Collection Pt.5








*WWD

 

[maimon]

Azzedine Alaïa RTW Fall 2016
By Miles Socha

Sunday, almost one month after the end of Paris Fashion Week, brought glorious springlike weather and coincided with the 40th Paris marathon — as well as Azzedine Alaïa’s fall show. The designer is apparently as impervious to time as a mountain range. See-later, buy-later seems to be his counterintuitive slogan.

And yet he drew a full house to his Rue de Moussy headquarters at 2 p.m., the audience including actress Elsa Zylberstein, French politician Fleur Pellerin, art dealer Jérôme de Noirmont, photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, fashion executives Jean-Marc Loubier and Stanislas de Quercize, and marquee retailers such as Adrian Joffe of Dover Street Market and Tommy Perse of Maxfield. Monica Bellucci and Nicolas Ghesquière turned up for the 5:30 p.m. display.

Alaïa told WWD he opted to present his collection much later than everybody else in Europe simply because his clothes can’t be made with a stopwatch. “I took the time necessary to create them,” he shrugged after the show, as guests rushed to congratulate him. Here was a powerful argument for slow fashion: a diverse, sleek and considered collection full of new shapes and embellishments from a designer stereotyped for curve and cling.

Consider the fabulous outerwear. Long a go-to guy for body-con dresses and flaring skirts, Alaïa turned out a range of generous, cocoonlike coats in glossy leathers or fancy, curlicue jacquards. A-line coats boasted the same swaying, follow-me volumes at the back, occasionally harnessed with a belt placed at the level of the bra strap.

There was no shortage of his signature knit dresses, the sleeveless looks that opened the show boasting deep armholes and playfully arranged rows of colorful dots. The textures of other knit dresses were typically dense and matte, resembling mounds of talc and gunpowder — until Alaïa let loose with micro sequins, embedding them in the chevron valleys of his knitted marvels, or etching them sparingly as graphic lines on monastic black gowns with asymmetric hems. He usually reserves such intricacies for his couture clients, the designer noted.

It’s also impressive how Alaïa can ping between austere, mannish tuxedos and nearly naked lace gowns, the latter lending his admittedly long-winded show a hot-blooded crescendo. His alluring tailcoat boleros, the fronts framing the rib cage, seemed to sit between those two extremes.

The filled-to-capacity crowd included the designer’s devoted client, the model Natalia Vodianova. Though expecting her fifth child in June — a vivid blue Alaïa sweater vest was stretched over her belly — Vodianova has not eased up on her charity works. She is organizing her next Love Ball on July 6 during couture week that will feature an art auction and a black-tie dinner for 250. It will be held at the Louis Vuitton Foundation with luxury titan Bernard Arnault hosting the event in aid of Naked Heart programs for disadvantaged children in Russia.

Tucked in the second row was French musician Nicolas Grodin, one half of the electronic duo Air. After seeing the collection, he composed original music for the show. Sensing that every exit told a story, he opted for only instrumental versions of songs, “so people would focus on the dresses.”

Although it was sweltering in the venue, and unpardonably late for a fall show — they did.

wwd

 

[VogueDisciple93]

Oh, how I dream of attending an Alaïa show. No designer left is able to deliver what this genius so effortlessly does; perfection. Each and every look was a triumph. 72 looks and I did not want it to end!

 

[JustABoy]

Love this. Thanks for posting! Some parts are ssdd alaia, but the finale! And the costs.

 

[Phuel]

Thanks Chanelcouture.

Alaia will always be Alaia, of course. And taking his impressive history of never being slavish to the system and remaining true to his craft, makes him eternal. But I don’t think he’s above criticism— and although I think this offering is much more light, fluid and flattering to women than some of his recent offering, it still doesn’t quite live up to what I adored about Alaia in the 90s.

I’m sure the knits, the techniques and the feel and drape and caress his designs on a woman is supreme, but some of the shapes are really awkward-looking to me— like the metallic knits in reds, blues and greens of dresses that resemble what a little girl might wear on Christmas outings than what a woman may wear for the evening. And seeing a boxy coat with dropped shoulders in an Alaia collection is akin to seeing Yohji doing jersey bell-bottoms…. It’s just doesn’t feel right for a man who’s such an individual. And the styling is so clunky, and unflattering: I mean, why would anyone put a common studde-belt on that perfection of a knit-gown that resembles a turquiose waterfall? Or pair such a daywear-looking cropped jacket with an evening dress? Weird.

Having gotten that out of the way, his fluid, floor-length pieces are eternal— whether in knits, in monastic solids or slinky (laser-cut?) lace, and whether close to the body, or full and volumnious, the way they seem to glide across the floor— that’s the Alaia Touch right there; looking so smouldering on young and old, thin and bigger women.

 

[liberty33r1b]

finally real clothes to love!

 

[Spike413]

Thanks Chanelcouture.

Alaia will always be Alaia, of course. And taking his impressive history of never being slavish to the system and remaining true to his craft, makes him eternal. But I don’t think he’s above criticism— and although I think this offering is much more light, fluid and flattering to women than some of his recent offering, it still doesn’t quite live up to what I adored about Alaia in the 90s.

I’m sure the knits, the techniques and the feel and drape and caress his designs on a woman is supreme, but some of the shapes are really awkward-looking to me— like the metallic knits in reds, blues and greens of dresses that resemble what a little girl might wear on Christmas outings than what a woman may wear for the evening. And seeing a boxy coat with dropped shoulders in an Alaia collection is akin to seeing Yohji doing jersey bell-bottoms…. It’s just doesn’t feel right for a man who’s such an individual. And the styling is so clunky, and unflattering: I mean, why would anyone put a common studde-belt on that perfection of a knit-gown that resembles a turquiose waterfall? Or pair such a daywear-looking cropped jacket with an evening dress? Weird.

Having gotten that out of the way, his fluid, floor-length pieces are eternal— whether in knits, in monastic solids or slinky (laser-cut?) lace, and whether close to the body, or full and volumnious, the way they seem to glide across the floor— that’s the Alaia Touch right there; looking so smouldering on young and old, thin and bigger women.

This.

Alaïa is Alaïa, and I wouldn't want him to be anything but himself, however I too sometimes wish for something more in his presentations. At the end of the day many of these pieces look awfully close to what he's currently offering in stores. Yes the textures and patterns in the knits are changed, yes there are variations in sleeves and necklines, but overall it's a little hard to get excited about this as a whole. Even his color palette these days is very, very repetitive. It's always black, white, garnet red, inky blues, forest or emerald green....even changing that up in a more perceptible way would give the impression of these staple pieces feeling fresh and new.

Speaking of what's in stores though, I'll never quite understand why some truly incredible, almost OTT and certainly runway-worthy pieces end up in stores like Barneys, for instance, yet they were never presented as part of his off-season runway offering. I mean things like bleached python mini skirts with exaggerated flounced hems and cutouts, ruched peasant-style crop tops and tooled leather separates demand your attention on a retail floor...so why are they rarely, if ever, on his runway?

 

[Jungla_Juana]

I just read Suzy Menkes' write up in Vogue UK in which she touches on Alaia's collection and this stood out to me:

[..] A leather coat, loose from its rounded shoulders and generously cut, had just the faintest whisper of Vetements' style, if it had not been for the elegant tailoring of the butter-soft leather that defined the garment as extreme luxury.

I'm not sure if I want to live in a world where Suzy Menkes openly says that Alaia is drawing inspiration from Vetements.





full review here.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Suzy’s just like any other citizen in fashiondom right now, latching onto and namedropping the current cool Mean Girls for street (fashion) creds with the kidz. I mean, if she’s being honest with herself and not just typing “Vetements” hoping to sound relevant, she may as well type Martin Margiela and even Marc Jacobs since they've been doing the boxy coats with the drop shoulders long before Vetements single-handedly saved fashiondom, apparently.

This.

Alaïa is Alaïa, and I wouldn't want him to be anything but himself, however I too sometimes wish for something more in his presentations. At the end of the day many of these pieces look awfully close to what he's currently offering in stores. Yes the textures and patterns in the knits are changed, yes there are variations in sleeves and necklines, but overall it's a little hard to get excited about this as a whole. Even his color palette these days is very, very repetitive. It's always black, white, garnet red, inky blues, forest or emerald green....even changing that up in a more perceptible way would give the impression of these staple pieces feeling fresh and new.

Speaking of what's in stores though, I'll never quite understand why some truly incredible, almost OTT and certainly runway-worthy pieces end up in stores like Barneys, for instance, yet they were never presented as part of his off-season runway offering. I mean things like bleached python mini skirts with exaggerated flounced hems and cutouts, ruched peasant-style crop tops and tooled leather separates demand your attention on a retail floor...so why are they rarely, if ever, on his runway?

Probably because these pieces you mentioned weren’t produced by the time of the showing, Spike. Alaia is Alaia LOL ...He operates on his own schedule.

I think Alaia’s brand is so secure in its place on the high fashion hierarchy, and hugely coveted to this day, that he really doesn’t need to invest in ensuring the best of his designs are always shown at his presentations. He’s an anomaly— and as much as I admire his designs, I’m glad the way in which he demands his own schedule, and possibly sells, is the exception rather than the rule. And that still doesn’t mean that what he chooses to show at these presentations shouldn’t be at their sensual best. I mean, the styling is mostly so clunky here— to the point of frumpy…