In a stripped-back final show for Alaïa, for fall/winter 2026, Pieter Mulier returned to the essence of dressmaking. With flawless execution, he proved that it is the purest gestures that can often be the most moving.
During his five years at Alaïa, Pieter Mulier has bestowed upon us the kind of fashion that means everything in a commerce-centric age when we can no longer take grand gestures of creativity for granted. A real dressmaker, he has let his heart and imagination guide a studious and experimental expression at the house: a sense of pure creation, which has often felt like the fashion that made so many of us fantasise about this industry growing up. Soon, he will bring that talent to Versace in an immaculate constellation that also seems like the stuff of childhood dreams. First, though, on Wednesday evening in the former Fondation Cartier, the time had come for his Alaïa swansong.
Contrary to the big productions that framed many of his shows for the house, guests were met by a simple, stripped-down space with narrow rows of benches, bright lights and a string piece playing in the background. His family was there, as were Raf Simons and Matthieu Blazy with whom Mulier started his career. As the room filled up, team members stood between the rows of seats, creating an almost auditorium-like atmosphere, as if we had all gathered like pupils in a place of study to learn and witness something special. Casually, the symphony was turned up to a more epic volume and the first look came out.
We started in the atelier with real clothes: what is a jacket? What is a dress? What is an Alaïa dress?
Pieter Mulier
It was a pale-beige, body-conscious tank dress darted along the hip bone: the simplest shape, studied and refined to perfection. As similar expressions followed, the studious feeling amplified, like we’d come to a museum to examine the work of a master sculptor. “We started in the atelier with real clothes: what is a jacket? What is a dress? What is an Alaïa dress?” Mulier explained after the show. “So, it’s basically a vocabulary of the five years of what I was taught here, which I’m giving to the next one. I didn’t want to do something huge and creative. You don’t do that when you leave a house. You keep it calm. You go back to the roots. I wanted to show what I learned, in a very humble way.”
I learned precision, I learned attitude, and I learned that real luxury is not what we all think. Real luxury isn’t the fabric, it’s the fit.
Pieter Mulier
The collection continued in the same vein as the opening dresses, studiously laying out the Alaïa codes and craftsmanship through the masterful dressmaking of Mulier. In an age when humility is as rare as pure creativity, his approach was moving. But pulling off a show like this – laying bare your skill with zero frills and theatricality – was also an impressive display of confidence. Zooming in on his construction, the execution was flawless. “I learned precision, I learned attitude, and I learned that real luxury is not what we all think. Real luxury isn’t even the fabric, it’s just the fit of something,” he reflected on his time at Alaïa.
Increasingly among show-goers, fashion week has become a debate about creativity and commerciality: was a collection creatively compelling? Is it going to sell? Is the runway for commerce or for showmanship? For a true dressmaker like Mulier, however, those questions resolve themselves. With his final show for Alaïa, he demonstrated that fashion, at its core, is about employing great skill to make people feel something. Very rarely, that can be achieved through the purest, most minimal gestures. And Mulier is a rare talent.
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