“This last collection was more about clothes to wear, not clothes for an image,” said Pieter Mulier, who closed his five-year chapter at Alaïa with a show dedicated to the bodycon codes of the house. He dialled down the fashion theatrics and audacious, silhouette thrills that have been a touchstone of his tenure and propelled him into the premier league of creative directors. Instead he brought it back to the spirit of Alaïa, expressed through pure lines and superlative cuts.

Mulier said he and his team “started with real clothes. What is a jacket what is a dress, what is an Alaïa dress?” The answer? An Alaïa dress is cut with such deftness and expertise in an atelier that has honed its skills over five decades, to complement the curve of the female form. An Alaïa dress is a sensual experience as much as a visual statement. Mulier showed it can be short and bodycon, a lean tank, it can cling like a tube or gently flare over the hips skater style. It’s fabrication whether silk, knit, woven, metal or exotic, makes you marvel. You could say it was simple, but that would belie the craft and care stitched into it. And when you put it on you feel supreme – the best version of yourself. As for an Alaïa jacket or coat, its and elegant superstructure that curves around the body creating striking volumes and proportions. “I also want to show what I learned from the house. I learned precision, I learned editing and I learned that real luxury is not what we all think. Real luxury is the perfectly cut jacket.”

Mulier described the collection as “a vocabulary” of his five years at Alaïa that he can pass on to whoever takes over. That person has yet to be announced. As Mulier moves on to Versace his parting shot was the fight of great, timeless, precision-cut clothes: forever pieces for the end of an era.

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