Paris Haute Couture: Alaia debuts first collection by Pieter Mulier

Paris haute couture week on Sunday returned with a joyous and buzzy atmosphere with the first live show in a year and a half, the much-anticipated debut collection of Maison Alaia under new creative director, Mr Pieter Mulier.

Rue de Moussy, a street in the Marais, was lit like a Hollywood film, the location where Azzedine Alaia once lived and worked. The start of a new chapter for the house was literally being written at its front door: four years after the death of its founder and twenty years after the house’s last haute couture show.

Azzedine Alaia’s legion of ardent fans have not been left unclothed in the meantime, buying re-editions released by the Maison from his signature archetypes, the impeccably tailored tulle, the flattering knife-pleat knitted dresses, the iconic studded leather sandals and bags. In a career spanning decades, Alaia’s signature tropes remain as relevant and covetable today as they were in the eighties and nineties. Parent company Richemont, the Swiss luxury group, is banking on the brand flourishing once again.