Yesterday the last collection signed by Pieter Mulier for Alaïa took the runway in Paris, presented at a moment of transition for the designer, who will soon embark on a new phase of his career at Versace, as announced just a month ago by Mulier himself and the fashion house. A fashion show that inevitably takes on the tone of a closing of a cycle: a measured farewell, consistent with the language the designer has built over the years.
The catwalk thus had the flavor of a farewell, a last turn before leaving the stage. This was also underscored by the scenographic choice: on a large screen behind the models scrolled the faces of the people from the atelier – tailors, pattern makers, artisans – who worked with him during this journey, the true creators of the garments that defined this phase of the maison, to whom Mulier wanted to pay tribute with an elegant and almost intimate farewell.
The Summer Fall 2026 collection can be defined as a return to the essentials. A deliberate, almost programmatic underdesign: clothes that follow the body naturally, without superstructures. The palette is reduced but intense, consisting of grays, ochre, fire red, often declined in monochrome, without decorations or excesses. The garments rest softly on the body: coats and trench coats are marked by flounces and wavy skirts that accompany the movement of the steps, while the waist always remains well-defined. Silhouettes thus build a simple architecture that emphasizes hips and proportions.
Emphasizing the waist even more are crocodile leather inserts on the chest that, descending in a triangle toward the waist, accentuate the thinning in a subtle and elegant way. Among the various looks, a series of very simple stretch jersey dresses snatches a smile, among which a gray mini dress stands out: its “twin” also appeared on the Gucci runway, a sign that this might just be the dress of the season, perhaps, it comes to be said, a symptom of a widespread need for essentiality.
Mulier’s is indeed an intentional simplicity, almost a stance in a landscape dominated by excess. And it works perfectly as a final salute to a fashion house that has always made the female body and its free expression its language. The lines with which the designer relaunched Alaïa return: a balance between organic and futuristic, minimal geometries but almost miraculous in their construction, and a palette stripped down to the bone.
A light sensuality emerges: a fashion that enhances the energy of the female body: it embraces it and reveals it with great skill, without flaunting it or turning its curves into something explicitly provocative. A refined and self-conscious sensuality that remains true to the spirit of the fashion house until the last step on the catwalk.
[📷 Instagram: maisonalaia]
