‘I wish to create garments that carry this concept of a contemporary magnificence, all the time in motion,’ Alaïa artistic director Pieter Mulier advised Wallpaper* final 12 months, talking on his imaginative and prescient for the Parisian maison a 12 months into his tenure (the Belgian designer started his position in 2021, the primary named designer after the demise of founder and couturier Azzedine Alaïa in 2017).
Motion, the physique, a pursuit of magnificence – preoccupations of each Mulier and Azzedine Alaïa in his lifetime – are united in a brand new collaboration between the home and Paris Opera Ballet on the event of Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber’s first work for the corporate, titled ‘Pit’.
Skilled on the Batsheva Dance Firm beneath Ohad Naharin, United States-born Smith – who has created works for Martha Graham Dance Firm and the Royal Danish Ballet, amongst others – and Israel-born Schraiber – a director, choreographer and actor – name ‘Pit’ a ‘sensual, tribal and dramatic universe’. Performed out on a stark, ‘figurative’ present set, it’s set to a rating which ‘intertwines’ Jean Sibelius’ 1904 ‘Violin Concerto’ with compositions by modern musician Celeste Oram.
Opéra de Paris x Alaïa
An Alaïa gown by Pieter Mulier for the ballet ‘Pit’
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Alaïa)
‘We share the same obsession with the physique. It’s the core of our creation,’ says Mulier of the roots of the mission. ‘All our gestures are dedicated to it, that’s what they advised me once they approached me within the first place. Our connection takes place within the physique.’
Mulier – who started his profession at Antwerp-based Raf Simons, earlier than following the eponymous designer to Dior and Calvin Klein – is a longtime follower of ballet and dance, having first seen ‘Rain’ by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker at Brussels’ La Monnaie over 20 years in the past in 2001 (coincidentally, costumes for that efficiency have been created by fellow Belgian designer Dries Van Noten). ‘It was such a shock, a revelation,’ says Mulier of the modern work, which gives a response to Steve Reich’s minimal composition ‘Music for 18 Musicians’.
‘However my favorite [ballet] stays ”Le Boléro de Ravel” choreographed by Maurice Béjart and starring Sylvie Guillem,’ he continues. ‘The ballet is sort of a present. Whenever you create garments, you all the time consider the actions of the lady’s physique. Her means to maneuver round in your garments. They have to change into a supply of freedom – veridical freedom. For ballet, it’s the identical concept, however for excessive actions.’
As such, the black-and-white costumes hint the sinuous line of the dancers’ our bodies; notably, a collection of robes which hug the torso like a bodice earlier than falling away into diaphanous flared skirts. Mulier calls the impact that of ‘supple armour’, an try to ‘improve, exalt and have a good time… the curves of the our bodies, their shapes and their silhouettes’. The assorted items have been custom-made to suit the 12 male and 9 feminine dancers, an indication of ‘the abilities and savoir-faire of the Alaïa atelier’.
A male dancer in one among Mulier’s creations
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Alaïa)
‘Once I select the supplies, and once I design the lower, I all the time have fluidity in thoughts,’ he says, noting a specific fondness for the items he created for the boys within the firm. ‘The fluidity of materials turns into the fluidity of actions.’
In his lifetime, Azzedine Alaïa created quite a lot of costumes for ballet and opera together with ‘Les Nuits’ (2013) and ‘La Fresque’ (2016) by French dancer and choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, an in depth collaborator. ‘Greater than a collaboration, the connection is all the time magnificence. Alaïa’s ongoing and timeless quest for magnificence,’ says Mulier of the home’s historic hyperlinks with the humanities. ‘That’s what makes [it] so particular. It’s on the supply of its bond with artwork, music, design and now ballet.’
‘Azzedine used to create the costumes for Angelin. Now I do it for Bobbi and Or. It’s the identical motion, the identical quest. Magnificence.’
‘Pit’ had its first run from March 17-March 30, 2022 at Paris’ Palais Garnier
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Supply: Wallpaper
