Around look 12 of the Alaïa Fall 2025 runway show, I texted my fashion girls group chat, “I’m worried Lynette might die from this.”
Three hours later my best friend texted me: “OMFG Alaïa. Like gooooooooooood fucking clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
That’s the power of Pieter Mulier. Clothing so dynamically made for the eyes to indulge in works from the front row—where we were all just gasping at every padded head-circling hood and hip-flaunting pleated skirt—or through an iPhone screen. Whether you’re in the room or not (but trust me you want to be in the room), the precise, sensual, slightly mischievous spirit Mulier has cultivated at the brand translates. It’s fresh and fashionable without being stuffy or dowdy.
The wild success of the brand, both at the till and amongst the well-dressed, is thanks to this chic but unpretentious attitude. At a visit to the London store two weeks ago, the upstairs café was brimming with teenagers listening to music on over-ear headphones and ladies gossiping over pastries. In the book section, a couple paraded around their thick French bulldog. “She needs to be the center of attention,” the woman told me of the dog. In Alaïa, you always are!
Even with cerebral music, cerebral sculptures, cerebral slicked-back little hairstyles, and all of the world’s most in demand models, the runway show isn’t a pretentious snooze. (You can’t say the same for a lot of other brands striving for ür-luxury.) It’s like a mental trip to The White Lotus: You imagine another you, a sexier, bolder you—maybe even a little dangerous—who could wear a white cropped jacket with a gigantic pleated skirt. She’s got a leather pouf on just one shoe; who knows why! Her hands are tucked in a shearling vest that curls around her like a python. Her crop top ends in points jutting around her—she’s spiky! But she can be soft, too, in body-clinging jersey.
It’s almost primal. It’s what makes Pieter Mulier’s Alaïa so compelling. While the best show in Milan (Prada), is about ideas, the probably best show in Paris (Alaïa, but we’re only on day three), is about instinct—the kind accrued through years of practice, not just designing or dressing, but in living. These are tempting clothes, for you to wear and tempt someone with. The fact they are also almost pricelessly luxurious only helps the allure.