WWD
CEO TALKS: Alaïa’s Myriam Serrano
The stealthy Paris house has been turning out hit accessories, widening its ready-to-wear offering and retail network, capitalizing on the heat around Pieter Mulier's sleek designs.
NOVEMBER 17, 2025, 8:00AM
Alaïa Winter-Spring 2026 Archetypes Collection COURTESY OF ALAÏA
“We have this strong commitment to expand, but without losing the spirit of this unique house.”
So says Myriam Serrano, the chief executive officer at Alaïa, who is balancing its legacy as a discrete and stealthy niche brand with today’s robust business momentum – and an unmissable level of buzz.
Over the weekend, the Paris-based fashion house opened a flagship store in Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun with a striking perforated facade. And on Monday the brand releases its winter-spring 2026 Archetype collection: a pre-collection that has been quietly introduced to broaden Alaïa’s product offering and wearing occasions beyond its more experimental runway designs.
The new Alaïa boutique in Beijing’s Sanlitun district. Jonathan Leijonhu/Courtesy of Alaïa
Among the looks on offer in Alaïa boutiques and on its completely revamped website are jeans with rounded outseams, asymmetrically draped knitwear, peplum jackets, a softer version
of its hit Le Teckel bag, and a nylon take on its up-and-coming Le Click style.
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It’s been less than five years since
Pieter Mulier took up the creative reins at the Richemont-owned house, heating it up to the boiling point with original, inventive designs, giving an experimental, modernist spin to the late founder Azzedine Alaïa’s legacy of empowering, feminine and sculptural fashions.
The past year has seen the brand move its runway show onto the official ready-to-wear schedule for Paris Fashion Week after several years of itinerant, off-calendar displays;
open a futuristic Paris flagship on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, catty corner to Hermès, and receive high-profile recognition with Mulier named International Designer of the Year
at the recent CFDA Awards.
Serrano, who took the management helm of Alaïa in 2019 from sister house Chloé, where she was director of communication and accessories, is an executive as discreet as the maison, reluctant to talk numbers, per Richemont policy.
But in a wide-ranging interview at her office atop the Paris boutique, Serrano lifted the veil on a development plan that has seen Alaïa’s retail network grow nearly four times to 20 freestanding stores, and its accessories business flourish based on hit styles like its mesh ballerina flats, which Mulier introduced with his first Alaia collection, and the long-handled, east-west Teckel style.
Myriam Serrano Paul Schmitt/Courtesy of Alaia
In reporting its first-half results, Richemont called out Alaïa as a “notable growth driver” among its fashion and leather goods houses, logging double-digit growth in the period.
The Swiss luxury group doesn’t break down business performance by brand, but it is understood Alaïa has more than doubled in size since Mulier arrived. Founded in 1979 by Tunisian designer Azzedine Alaïa, the house was acquired by Richemont in 2007.
While long reliant on the wholesale channel, “today it’s balanced, and it will be a majority retail-driven company,” Serrano said, disclosing plans to open a flagship in the Miami Design District in the first half of 2026, and another on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles in the latter half of next year.
Serrano spies additional runway for retail expansion in Asia, mentioning South Korea, Japan and Thailand, as well as the Middle East, but at the “step-by-step” pace she has set for the company.
“The house remains intentionally discrete as part of its own identity, and yet, it’s true that the energy around it has never been stronger,” she said. “I think the potential is huge.”
Here, Serrano talks more about her development strategy for the brand.
WWD:
How do you account for the vitality of the brand today?
Myriam Serrano: I think this momentum is fueled by a combination of factors. First, we have a strong and clear, creative vision, and it’s the result of everything we did over the last five years. This vision is personal, it’s distinctive, it’s directional, and it’s consistent with Alaïa’s identity while bringing a new energy relevant for today.
We have a focus on craft, quality and timelessness. And we see a growing community of clients very loyal to the brand. I think it’s important to remember that Alaïa is not driven by hype, but by desirability. And everything we’ve done the last years since Pieter joined and I joined is installing step-by-step this long-term vision. For us, discretion is a strength, because it conveys exclusivity, authenticity and a personal connection with our clients.
WWD:
And how is the business tracking?
M.S.: We have had significant growth over the last years. Richemont is really supporting this long-term strategy. Alaïa has been expanding, but in a very healthy way, always prioritizing quality over scale. Since Pieter’s arrival, we’ve see an acceleration. The growth has been positive and consistent, but we preserve the maison’s uniqueness and exclusivity. It’s important to grow step-by-step in a steady and consistent way.
I’m really happy because we’re having this growth, but in a good way, with excellent products and with no compromise. It was important for me, and, of course, for Pieter to do it in the good way, to pay tribute to Mr. Alaïa and his legacy and not to compromise on any easy or opportunistic products or messages.
WWD:
Pieter Mulier’s Alaïa is probably more daring, varied and experimental than the founder’s. Have you been able to retain old-guard Alaïa loyalists while also attracting a new clientele?
M.S.: Innovation is key in Alaïa’s identity, from Azzedine’s groundbreaking work to Pieter’s bold exploration today. We see that Pieter has revived that spirit. The idea was attracting a younger and broader audience, but keeping as well our loyal clients deeply engaged. I’m always happy to see that client stayed and we also have some previous clients that are coming back.
They see that the integrity of the house around the purity of the lines, the precision of the cuts, the continuous work on the woman and on the body has been preserved, but it has also been evolving.
What our clients really love about Alaïa is that it’s different, it’s empowering. You really stand out wearing it. You feel unique and confident. It’s why they’re very loyal to the brand.
Alaïa’s
Le Teckel bag as seen on the streets of Paris during Fashion Week on March 05, 2025. (Photo by Christian Vierig/Getty Images) Getty Images
WWD:
How would you describe your working relationship with Pieter, and the spirit inside the house?
M.S.: From the beginning, we forged a relation built on trust, on open dialogue, and an instinctive understanding of the house.
We are sharing the same vision on how to respect the values of Alaïa while still bringing something new. We are also aligned on how we want to expand Alaïa’s visibility, keeping this exclusivity, but strengthening the brand equity – opening up, but keeping a very, very precise and high-level positioning. My mission is supporting his vision, organizing the company, and aligning the teams around this same goal.
What I love about Alaïa is that it stays as a family- and a human-scale company. It’s really direct, passionate and collaborative. Even if we grow, we really want to maintain this agility and this family spirit. It’s very important to keep the processes simple and the decision-making fast.
We don’t have big product committees, or complex processes to validate everything. I think it’s really coming from him (Mulier), aligning together and moving forward on every topic.
WWD:
Alaïa shows have been getting great reviews. How would you describe client reaction to recent runway collections?
M.S.: The (winter-spring 2026) collection received really amazing feedback from the press, but also from the clients. This one was really directional and wearable at the same time.
We take pre-orders and it was the best we’ve ever had. We had amazing reaction on the sculptural knitwear, all the leather looks – the biker jacket and the triangle pants.
Alaïa Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Paris Fashion Week Courtesy of Alaïa
And they loved the colors. That was new in this collection and it was appreciated by the clients. They also liked all the first looks with the fringed socks. They will be produced and we have pretty good quantities on them. That’s part of the fashion statement.
WWD:
In the background, Alaïa has been creating and selling ever-larger pre-collections. How was this project initiated, how much is Pieter involved, and how important have these collections become for the business?
M.S.: We used to have only two collections a year, but with the brand growing and the success coming, we created the Archetype collections, which are like pre-collections. We sell them before the show collection. The idea was to develop the everyday wardrobe of the Alaïa woman, but always distinctive and true to the Alaïa identity. It was important to debunk the impression that Alaïa is limited to occasion wear.
You will feel all the sculptural volumes, the architectural constructions and the pure lines, but interpreted as a full wardrobe, from day to evening. These collections also include iconic creations of the house, reinterpreted with every (Archetype) collection. We emphasize knitwear, our rounded shapes, strong leather pieces, and a great selection of looks for the holiday season.
Knitwear from Alaïa’s winter-spring 2026 Archtetypes collection. Courtesy of Alaïa
Commercially speaking, it now represents more half of the business, and this is something that we will grow, and that will complement the show collection. Considering our international expansion, (Archtypes) answers some specificities from the different markets and different seasonality.
We are launching (Archetypes) at the same time as we are launching our revamped e-commerce website.
WWD:
Are there any new categories you wish to enter?
M.S.: I think we have very good potential on categories like beachwear. The is something we will develop in the next collections.
We really want to to stay focused on what we do, and we see great potential to grow in ready-to-wear, bags, shoes, sunglasses, and jewelry. We’re working on diversifying the offer, and leveraging the categories we have.
In accessories, we see a significant opportunity to scale them, but always thoughtfully.
WWD:
How important have Le Teckel and the ballerina flat been to the brand’s recent ascension?
M.S.: These two products really accelerated the business results, and also the visibility and familiarity around the brand. It’s really helping us to to recruit new clients, to speak to a new audience.
WWD:
Any new accessories stars on the horizon?
M.S.: In shoes, we have the Cube line that debuted at the Guggenheim show in New York. We’ve had a very good response to that because it’s feminine, it’s different, it’s architectural. And on the bags, we have also very good reaction to Le Click.
Le Click Courtesy of Alaïa
Le Click is a good example of our design vocabulary for bags: It’s organic, architectural and pure. It’s instantly Alaïa, but without a big logo on it. The idea is playing more on the sculptural shapes on the shoes, on the bags. It’s the architecture that makes the product recognizable without the logo.
WWD:
At present, how much of the business is rtw?
M.S.: Ready-to-wear remains the core of the brand, and it’s still today, the biggest category. And I’m really happy for that, because it’s really where we are coming from. I think that’s key, because it’s important for the clients. It’s bringing loyalty, it’s bringing high positioning, and it’s bringing a consistency with who we are. It’s very important as we expand our retail footprint to educate about Alaïa, on what the brand is about.
Of course, accessories now represent a much bigger share in the business than it used to be. Over the next years, the ambition is to develop accessories, but in a very qualitative way. We really want to keep a good balance between the ready-to-wear, the shoes and the bags, and this is what we have today. It’s a strength.
WWD:
Alaïa recently moved to on-calendar shows instead of destination events with offbeat timings. Is this a signal and engine of its growth ambitions?
M.S.: Of course, we see that it’s bringing the industry’s attention. But even if we have shown during official fashions weeks, we preserve the intimacy and the precision that defines our show. But I think it’s important that we also keep the freedom to show somewhere else, or at another time when it feels right. We really want to keep this freedom, which is part of our DNA and our identity.
WWD:
Tell us a bit more about your online store?
M.S.: It’s a totally new website. It portrays the identity of Alaïa in digital and it’s much more immersive. We really focus on the product, on the silhouette. We have much more video and editorial content. The website today is a big window for us, because it’s the way you discover the brand, so it has to be at the level of everything else we do.
WWD:
How would you describe your approach to retail development?
M.S.: We always privilege quality over quantity – so taking the time to find the right location, the right opportunity to position the brand at a good place, at the right moment with the right audience. It’s a pivotal moment for retail now.
Of course, we are planning to open new boutiques, but in the same way, so always having a strong concept, recognizable and something very special, where you can forge a deep connection with the clients and show the world of Alaïa. Making every project a success and taking the time to do it well is really important for us.
You need to open (retail) at the same time as you increase the awareness. The brand has to be ready for the development, so we really want to focus on key fashion capitals first.
WWD:
What’s the thinking behind the Beijing flagship?
M.S.: We started the business in China almost 10 years ago in a partnership with SKP and it’s very successful, and now we want to add a new experience in Beijing, having a flagship for the first time in China. That will really help to bring Alaïa to the next level, and propose the right experience for our clients. They will discover the world of Alaïa in a much more impactful way. It’s a very good, complementary type of experience.
The facade has round windows, all in Carrara marble and perforated, and it’s bringing an impactful visual from the outside. It’s nice because it’s open and closed at the same time. We always have this balance in the architecture between the curved organic lines and also more sharp and geometric lines.
Inside we have two vintage cubic chairs from Paul Poiret we sourced for Beijing to bring his sense of uniqueness. Alaïa is always at the intersection of fashion, design and art.
WWD:
How much of the business come from directly operated stores versus wholesale?
M.S.: We’re seeing a real shift from wholesale to retail, though I can’t discuss percentages. In wholesale, we have very strong partners that we continue to work with and we have a strong potential to grow. But it’s very relevant for a brand like Alaïa to develop retail, especially in new markets as this is the best way to show the world of Alaïa in a comprehensive way.
WWD:
Will Alaïa forever remain a niche brand, or does Richemont have the ambition for Alaïa to one day enter fashion’s big leagues?
M.S.: Alaïa is an iconic maison. The idea is really to build a long-term plan for growth that allows us to expand, but always remaining exclusive and without compromising the essence of the brand. I’m talking about authenticity, intimacy, a family spirit. It takes time but I’m convinced that Alaïa has an amazing, amazing potential.
