Alaia’s Late, Late Show Is Well Worth the Wait
A full 37 days after most Paris designers wrapped up their fall ready-to-wear shows, Azzedine Alaia finally presented his.
He wasn’t ready earlier, he said.
It’s been that way with Alaia for several seasons now. Los Angeles retailers Charles Gallay and Tommy Perse of Maxfield, along with every other shop owner in the world who carries the Alaia label, make a second trip to Paris, just for him. (At an estimated additional cost from Los Angeles of at least $4,500 per season for first-class travel and hotel.)
“It’s a little frustrating,” said Perse, who trimmed his budget this time by staying in Los Angeles and sending only one buyer to the Paris show. He usually sends a team of three, including himself. “But after all the moaning is over, I’ll continue to do it. The clothes are fantastic. I want them in my store.”
This time, Alaia presented his collection in a glass-roofed warehouse that one day will be his design headquarters and boutique.
In its present, unfinished state, a chill rain dripped through the cracks, showering press and buyers during the 1 1/2-hour wait before Thursday’s event began. The models got wet, too, when they walked down the runway.
At a second showing Friday, the audience included Tina Turner, wearing an olive-drab trench coat, black leather jeans, white bobby socks and black lace-ups; and ballet-turned-theater dancer Zizi Jeanmaire, wrapped in a pink silk Saint Laurent scarf, showing off her celebrated legs in pale sheer stockings. They fared better than Thursday’s crowd, because the rain had stopped.
Alaia is usually associated with sexy, clinging clothes, but this show began in a classic, almost subdued mood with to-the-knee Balenciaga-inspired cocoon coats in pristine white wool; serious white gabardine suits; and the longer redingote jackets that were everywhere in Paris collections this season. Alaia’s version goes over narrow pleated trousers, leggings, clinging cyclist shorts or pleated Bermudas.
Other redingotes topped his familiar body suits that outline every curve. Trench coats, another Alaia signature, were shiny, sensuous satin, and cut to three lengths: mid-thigh, at the knee or mid-calf.
Other familiar themes were Alaia’s seamed double-knit body dresses, this time with a new detail, a modified leg-of-mutton sleeve.
For Late Day
Two of the best looks in the collection were for late day. One was a bronze, Lurex and satin, off-the-shoulder blouse with matching cuffed shorts. Alaia paired it with black sheer stockings and high-heeled suede booties. The other outfit, his “smocking” suit, had a cutaway jacket with tails that bounced on a flouncy organza skirt.
While he is often regarded as an artist beyond question who carves his clothes like sculpture, Alaia, working in this group, was not as remarkable.
This collection lacked the usual perfect tailoring and was highly derivative. Much of the show consisted of the same few outfits, all of them similar to styles from earlier Alaia collections, repeated this time with only slight variations in color and fabric.
Fans Didn’t Mind
His fans didn’t seem to mind. Backstage, after the show, the diminutive designer--he’s under 5 feet tall--all but disappeared under the crowd of well-wishers. But he reappeared in time to pose with Tina Turner for French TV cameras.
Afterward, Gallay, and London’s Joan Burstein of Brown’s, said it was worth the trip. Burstein explained why she “puts up with” Alaia’s eccentricities. “As soon as the merchandise arrives, it sells.”
Gallay added: “Because Alaia is true to himself, he’s true to his customer.”
Maxfields’ Perse explained that Alaia is no longer the only designer who requires special attention during buying seasons. He travels to Hamburg, Germany, twice a year, just to see the collections of Jil Sander. And to New York, primarily to buy the Matsuda label.
