Time matters so much to Azzedine Alaïa that, for a while now, he has been working with critic Donatien Grau on conversations (that will be collected in a book) on this subject that try to provide answers to a key questions: is creation possible on a timeline?
That the answer to this dilemma may be a negative one is clear from the fact that Alaïa showcased his latest collection two weeks after the Parisian fashion week was over to a selected crowd of guests and clients gathered in his Marais studio.
There is actually also another interesting point to make: Alaïa showcased around 90 garments, roughly the same amount of pieces Lagerfeld sent out on the Chanel runway. The main difference being that, while the former opted for a minimalist presentation that focused on the clothes, the latter went for the usual Leviathan approach (hit them with a huge set, confuse them with a controversial story - fake art fair, huge supermarket, fake feminist protest... - so that the attention remains on the spectacle...).
Alaïa doesn't seem to be scared about people focusing on clothes as their quality is visible from a distance and his narrative is not made of sets and settings, but revolves around a semantics of high quality materials and perfect cuts.
The first designs showcased were characterised by rigorous military lines with skirts supported by a bone-like structure, and borrowed from casual pieces turned for the occasion into tailored jackets and coats in luxurious red and yellow snakeskin. Alaïa's trademark perfectly fitting knitted evening gowns with three-dimensional motifs (oval-shaped in some cases) built through solid yarns with sparkling metallic thread inside, made an appearance, though the main focus seemed to be the shirtdress reinterpreted in several ways.
The designs were clearly based on architectural principles and they seemed to tap into the light and shadow trend that will become more popular come next Spring.
At times Alaïa employed simple perforations, porthole-like openings and graphic dots as decorations or inserted panels of lacquered lace as structural elements on short and long dresses to create extended collars and see-through sections.
Perfectly symmetrical perforations and holes reminded of the gazing out theme we saw in Chalayan's Spring/Summer 2015 collection and of the transformative façade of Jean Nouvel's Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (where a recently opened exhibition entitled "Le Maroc Contemporain" is currently analysing modern art, fashion, design and architecture from Morocco).
Apart from inspiring architectural comparisons, the collection leaves open a few dilemmas: is it possible to show a collection when the garments that make it are ready or should a collection be showed as part of a scheduled calendar decided by fashion organisations? What about quantity and quality? And is it better to be showing in a grand environment or allowing your audience to focus on clothes in a relatively intimate space? Maybe the day will come when most creators will make the proper choices and even slow down things a bit, till then we will be left with Alaïa.
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