July 4, 2023 |
For Azzedine Alaïa, a dress always began with the woman that would wear it. The fashion maestro would build garments directly on his models, draping and sewing swaths of fabric around their bodies before they would elegantly sculpt their frames. Pieter Mulier, the eponymous house’s creative director today, expands on this notion for SS24. Taking place on a padlock strewn footbridge across the Seine, the collection spoke of ways the human figure itself “can be fashioned” through “the push and pull of clothes”, as stated in the collection’s notes.
Throughout, Mulier celebrated what he dubbed “a heightened bombshell silhouette”. High-waisted pencil skirts and button-up frocks – with bodysuits visible beneath – came fashioned from semi-opaque latex, tightened to the body in sensual formations. Pillbox hats, architectural heels and stirrup tights completed this season’s powerful silhouette, which also included belted leather trench coats, signature Alaïa ribbed bodycon dresses and sculpted high-neck shirts. With the setting sun dancing along the Seine’s waves as models took their final strides, Mulier’s latest outing shaped up to be glorious opener to this week’s couture shows.
Photography courtesy of Alaïa.
