When, over ten years ago, major high street retailers started collaborating with famous design brands to release more affordable versions of exclusive pieces, the fashion world enthused about these experiments, highlighting how they were democratising the industry. If you knew your fashion history, though, you'd realise such collaborations were nothing new. 
In 1991 Azzedine Alaïa designed indeed a collection inspired by French high-street retailer Tati and a capsule collection for Tati comprising a pair of espadrilles, a bag and a T-shirt.
Tati was characterised by a blown-up houndstooth-print logo and Alaïa borrowed the pattern for his perfectly cut body-hugging trousers, tops, hot-pants, and dresses in white and black, blue and red, that he designed following the rules and principles of couture (some of the designs were actually made from Tati canvas).
There was also another inspiration behind the collection – a check pattern employed by artist Julian Schnabel on some of his paintings.
In an interview about the collaboration Alaïa stated at the time "I was fascinated by Tati, by that store because every time I went to Tunisia, I saw Tati shopping bags everywhere around me on the plane."
At the time the slogan of Tati, widely considered as a temple for bargain hunters – los plus bas prix (the cheapest prices) – seemed a real contrast with Alaïa's couture prices (even though there was a similarity between the designer and the store – at the time of the collaboration Tati was indeed owned by a fellow Tunisian).
A selection of the designs from the S/S 91 collection are now part of the exhibition "Azzedine Alaïa, Une autre pensée sur la mode: La collection Tati" (Azzedine Alaïa, Another Way to Look at Fashion: The Tati Collection) at the Azzedine Alaïa Association (launching today, so perfectly coinciding with the beginning of the Haute Couture shows, and running until 5th January 2020, 18 rue de la Verrerie, Paris).
Curated by Olivier Saillard, the exhibition includes designs from 1991 that wouldn't look out of place on any contemporary runway, plus works by Julian Schnabel, a close friend of Alaïa's who sometimes painted on Tati canvas, sensual illustrations by Thierry Perez (the capsule collection can be admired through these illustrations as the pieces were not very well preserved; people actually wore the Tati capsule by Alaïa, which means that the pieces from the capsule are now rare), and photographs and film footage by Ellen von Unwerth showing various models including Naomi Campbell wearing the collection.
The exhibition proves that Alaïa wasn't among the first designers to start such a partnership with a popular mass-market retailers, but the first one.
Besides, the exhibition shows that it is possible to organise a minor and more compact yet engaging fashion event rather than monumental exhibitions. 
In this way visitors can look at each garment, stop and study the designs on display without having to rush, and think more about the constrasts between high-street retailers, fast fashion and couture.
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