While Azzedine Alaïa had been working as a couturier in Paris since the ’60s, it was New York that gave the Tunisian designer the fuel to jumpstart his ready-to-wear collection and formalize maison Alaïa in the ’80s. As the story goes, Dawn Mello, the then director of Bergdrof Goodman, extended Alaïa an invitation to show a collection in New York, one that his close friend and fellow designer Thierry Mugler urged him to accept.
Mello had seen Alaïa’s designs in Bill Cunningham’s style photographs of fashion editors including Nicole Crassat and Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele—Alaïa often credited Cunningham for helping him become known stateside. Mugler helped Alaïa with the show’s casting, and, in September of 1982, he held his first New York fashion show at Bergdorf Goodman with Crassat, Paloma Picasso, and Andy Warhol all in attendance. Following the show, Alaïa said that the volume of orders for his tight RTW outing allowed him to make more samples to expand the line.
Later this year on September 6, the Alaïa designer Pieter Mulier is bringing the maison to New York once more to present his winter/spring 2025 collection. Mulier often shows his collections off-calendar close to haute couture week, and his absence in the schedule of the fall 2024 couture collections currently underway has been a topic of conversation at the shows. But Alaïa, both the designer and the maison, have always done things their own way. This upcoming show honors that legacy, and Mulier, who is returning to the city after having lived here during his time at Calvin Klein with Raf Simons, is continuing to chart the house’s history intuitively and freely.
Here’s what Mulier had to say about the show: “New York has a very special significance to me. It’s the city of resilience. And resilience is the feeding ground for creativity. My time in New York has not only shaped my artistic vision but has become an integral part of who I am. It’s where Alaïa‘s story intersects with the heartbeat of the world. New York isn’t just a destination; it’s a homecoming, a celebration of the past, present, and future of Alaïa.”
