It All Makes Perfect Sense. Alaïa AW24

The latest Alaïa collection is about simplicity and purity. It’s about intimacy, about reducing to an essence, about finding a freedom and invention in that. At the same time, Pieter Mulier managed to keep it sensual and tactile, not brutally minimal. The entire autumn-winter 2024 collection was created using a single merino wool yarn, reinvented over and again with the maison’s textile and knitwear suppliers, who have worked with Azzedine Alaïa, the late designer and his brand, for decades. Mulier’s take on the part-ready-to-wear, part-haute–couture collection is predominantly based on the curve, on the circle – the curves of women, and circles of friends, of chosen family, an idea essential to the essence of Alaïa. “For this show, I wanted to bring us all together, to view everything up close – close together, close to the clothes“. Draped tops fell asymmetrically in supremely elegant folds; minimalist skirts and dresses were looped and wrapped, sarong-like, to show a leg. A black jumpsuit seemed to be made of one continuous piece, gathered into a halter in front, leaving the back bared. Knitted turtleneck tabard sweaters showed slivers of naked torsos in passing. “I love that you’re covered, you’re covered completely – but then you show something”, the designer mused. The two-storied show space integrated the collection with design objects that are signifiers of the Alaïa boutique on rue de Marignan: the Pelota lamps, created by Marc Newson, and the Mollo sofas by Philippe Malouin. It all made sense.