Rihanna was late arriving to the Alaia show Friday night in New York City, clutching her strapless white gown to her chest as she hurried to her seat in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum.
It was a jarring contrast to the rest of the crowd milling about before the show, which was charmingly old school. Linda Evangelista and Amber Valleta were catching up with DNA Model Management co-founder David Bonnovrier, who helped build their careers; Stephanie Seymour was circulating with her husband, art collector Peter Brant, and Naomi Campbell, so close to the late Azzedine Alaia she called him “Papa,” was hugging everyone in sight.
“There’s something nice about how he’s kept the link to the past,” longtime fashion editor Stephen Gan said surveying the supermodel contingent, invited by Alaia creative director Pieter Mulier, acknowledging how they helped build the brand’s mystique over the decades.
It was in New York that Azzedine Alaia first found commercial success for his fledgling ready-to-wear business, hosting two influential New York runway shows, one at Bergdorf Goodman in 1982 and another in 1985 at the Palladium night club.
“I was at that show,” said Gan. “I had just moved from the Philippines and was going to Parsons. I was a club kid,” he said, remembering the supermodel-stacked spectacular on a set designed by Jean-Paul Goude, which had Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Stephen Sprouse and many other members of New York’s creative class in the seats.
That was a moment, and so was this, with Mulier using the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim as his runway set to gorgeous and graceful result.
Models descended from the top of the rotunda to a soft piano beat, taking their time winding round and round the spiral ramps, and conjuring a meditative state for those below to consider the methodical process of creating beauty, in art, architecture and fashion.
An enthusiastic collector of vintage American designer clothing, Mulier said in a pre-show interview that he wanted to pay homage to American sportswear done through an Alaia lens. And you could feel the love in every look for the sense of freedom the designer associates with New York, where he lived for three years while working for Calvin Klein and said he was most happiest in his personal life.
He challenged himself to create without using buttons and zippers, and in doing so, brought an elegant lightness and sporty ease to Alaia, with Kendall Jenner as the new American supermodel face.
There were also hints of some of his favorite American fashion greats’ historic contributions throughout the collection; one could see the influence of the easy draped and hooded gowns of Halston, the sharp shoulders of Adrian, the sculptural crinolines of Charles James and the carefree joie de vivre of Claire McCardell.
To wit, Mulier opened with a wardrobe of midriff-flaunting summer play clothes to go from beach to dance floor–bandeaus, flirty flared miniskirts attached to briefs, and skirted balloon leg pants, many in ice cream hues, all with a touch of sexy sheerness.
With a commercial eye, he spun the mesh from Alaia’s hit mary jane ballet flats into a shimmery silver tunic and pants set, and showed a new leather tote bag, slung casually across over the shoulder and worn on the back.
Nodding to American wardrobe classics, he showed blocky T-shirt dresses that sat away from the body, the barrel leg denim of dreams, and haute versions of the track suit in divine silk taffeta with dramatically voluminous gathered tops and cinched leg pants that are sure to be must-haves.
And of course, he played off the stunning geometry of the space with springy coiled furs, ruched balloon pants with caged architectural waists, and spirals galore.
That the designer was able to have the first show ever in the Guggenheim’s 85-year history was due to the two Spiral Dresses, or “La Robe Spirale,” in his fall 2024 collection, reminiscent of the shape of the famous New York landmark. “The Guggenheim contacted me right after the show to say they were amazing,” Mulier said. “And when we decided to go to New York, we contacted them and said it would be perfect to show there.”
So he continued to work the spiral motif by whirling the waists of fun furs, spinning tiered skirts of their axes, and pushing off center a chic-as-hell black dress suspended from a thin shoulder chain, to reveal the sporty bandeau top and bare side waist underneath.
It all built to a finale of glorious pleated jersey gowns clinging to naked torsos like “magic tricks,” as the designer put it.
Fashion magic indeed.