The Tamesis
“I feel empty and happy,” Pieter Mulier said backstage after his final show for Alaïa, which received a standing ovation. After five years at the helm of Versace, Mulier is leaving the company to embark on a new adventure: starting July 1, he will serve as creative director of Versace. “The last collection is about wearing clothes. What is a jacket? What is a dress? This has been basically the vocabulary of the last five years. This is something I learned at Alaïa and I will pass it on to the next designer. It’s like leaving the keys on the table. At Alaïa I learned precision, I learned tailoring and I learned that true luxury is a perfectly tailored jacket,” Mulier continued.
The exhibition opened earlier this evening at the Fondation Cartier in Paris. Hundreds of industry insiders, including Anna Wintour, Matthieu Blazy and Muriel’s mentor Raf Simons, were on hand to greet and cheer the outgoing designer across half of the building’s ground floor. The other half is empty, with one wall taken up by a giant screen displaying portraits of each member of Alaia’s design team.
A few days ago, a briefcase containing a leather puzzle arrived at the guest’s residence: an invitation to the show. When pieced together, the pieces formed a brown bodice, held together with metal studs. This is both a recognition of the formal legacy of founder Azzedine Alaïa and the development of Mulier since taking over Alaïa’s creative team in 2021.
Muriel’s architectural eye has shaped the silhouettes women will tend to post-pandemic. At the same time, the mesh ballet flats and Le Teckel shoulder bag he launched at the same time have become wardrobe must-haves. Richemont Group, the owner of Alaïa, did not announce brand revenue, but at constant exchange rates, group sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2025 increased 11% year-on-year to 6.4 billion euros. In short, Mulier’s Alaïa is great and selling well.
Muriel also has strong communication skills. Over the years, his community has become accustomed to playful invitations, and his show notes have always been personal and vulnerable: the invitation for the autumn/winter 2024 collection was a folding leather chair, while last season’s invitation was a WhatsApp text from the designer himself. At his first show after taking over the house in 2021, guests found a letter addressed to Azzedine on their seats: “I tried to get into your head, but it was impossible… We met, but I never had the chance to know you. Now, I have the opportunity to thank you,” the letter read.
Mulier became the first designer to serve as Alaïa’s creative director following the death of its founder in November 2017. Speculation has yet to begin as to who will take the baton. I guess we’re all a little tired of the musical chairs, right? (Personally, I’m very tired of that word.) But there’s another possible reason: It took the company three full years to appoint Muriel, reissuing archival bestsellers, until they found the right person. Is this possible in today’s world? One can only dream.
In the meantime, here’s what some buyers, media and friends of the brand have to say about Mulier’s landmark tenure at Alaïa.
Bruno Astuto, Chief Fashion and Creative Officer of JHSF, Brazil
Farewell to a collection is one of the most dangerous acts in fashion. When a designer truly elevates a house, it takes a special kind of courage to back out: the courage of restraint. Peter Muriel understands this. After a brilliant tenure at Alaïa, he chose not to leave with a crescendo. Some of his most memorable chapters don’t have that kind of visual complexity. Instead, he offers something more elusive: complex simplicity.
