Paris's exhibition honors the friendship between Alaïa and Mugler

Sometimes friendship can inspire and influence. The Azzedine Alaïa Foundation in Paris exhibits some dozen looks that show how the styles of the Franco-Tunis designer and Thierry Mugler interacted with each other, despite their deep differences.

Voluptuous waist, declaration shoulders, is sometimes inspired by Africa. He Azzedine Alaïa, Thierry Mugler, 1980-1990, Deux d Technicians of Connivences Artistiques Exhibition, open until June 29 in Paris, shows more than 70 dresses, coats and monkeys of the two designers, borrowed by the personal collection of Alaïa.

The exhibition Leitmotif It is a chromatic trip that begins with a series of black garments and continues with a white, red, green and golden sequence.

Mugler, who died in 2023, was famous for his feeling for glamor and fantastic appearance, while Alaïa, who died in 2017, was better known for his lowest style.

However, so much “they greatly admired the 1930s and 1950s, and referred to Hollywood much more clearly than other designers,” said Olivier Saillard, fashion historian and curator of the exhibition, speaking with AFP.

In some of the looks, the similarities are so surprising that “we really do not know who designed what,” Sailard said.

Alaïa and Mugler met for the first time in the late 1970s. Mugler asked Alaïa, who worked for some of the great houses at that time to create the jackets for dinner for his autumn/winter 1979-80 collection.

The collaboration encouraged Alaïa to embark on a solo race, urged by Mugler, who came to accompany Alaïa in New York in 1982 for his first important show, to help him with production and language.

A few years before his death, Mugler said that his friend “had encouraged him to participate a little more in life, so that his designs were less fantastic and more suitable for real women,” Sailard said.

On the contrary, “Mugler thought that, following his closeness, [Alaïa’s style] He had become more curved. His lines suddenly became much more wrapped and sensual, ”he added.

This is the reason why the Alaïa Foundation decided to establish the exhibition as a dialogue, to show the related spirits of the two designers, “said Sailard.