Alaïa Spring-Summer 2026

By the Editorial Staff

For Spring-Summer 2026, presented during Paris Fashion Week, Pieter Mulier advances the evolving language of Alaïa with a collection that feels cumulative rather than seasonal. Instead of working from overt themes, Mulier remains faithful to the philosophy established by Azzedine Alaïa, that fashion should be intimate, precise, and timeless. The result is a body-centered exploration of tension: between concealment and exposure, discipline and freedom, past and future.

The silhouettes are reduced yet uncompromising. Cotton, python, leather, and silk are manipulated into sculptural forms that cling, frame, and sometimes fracture around the body. Garments demand movement to be fully understood. Fringe-covered leg pieces initially read as slim trousers before revealing themselves as mid-thigh stockings. Cocooned shapes transform into open-back playsuits. Side-slit trousers cascade and regroup with each step, exaggerating cuts Mulier has explored in prior seasons. Dresses twist from unexpected suspension points, while macramé “pearls,” feather-light knits, and fingered constructions create a hypnotic rhythm of control and chaos.

Mulier describes the collection as “reduced, sculptural, precise,” yet pushed to extremity. That extremity is not decorative, it is structural and emotional. Some pieces are drawn tightly against the skin, emphasizing the living presence of the body beneath; others are sliced open, suspended, or fragmented, creating silhouettes that shatter and reform in motion. These are, in Mulier’s words, “clothes that cry”, garments infused with vulnerability and strength at once.

Workwear codes are elevated into couture, inspired by the notion of a pragmatic uniform charged with sensual undercurrents. Boxy jackets with raised collars nearly brush the lips; gathered jersey trousers slip into sleek leather heels; minimal surfaces evoke opulence without excess. The casting, featuring guests such as Kim Kardashian and Cynthia Erivo, reinforced the house’s cultural relevance while underscoring its human scale.

More than four years into his tenure, Mulier has proven that Alaïa is not about spectacle or trend cycles. It is about permanence. Spring/Summer 2026 affirms that the house’s power lies in its radical simplicity: clothing sculpted around the body, alive with movement, intimate in construction, and uncompromising in clarity.

This article is an original editorial analysis produced by [DIBA magazine]

Research and references are used for contextual accuracy.