Enfnts Terribles

Curated by Olivier Saillard, the exhibition brings together over 200 archival pieces, with around 40 Mugler creations placed in dialogue with Alaïa’s own. The exhibition illustrates how Alaïa and Mugler, despite their contrasting styles, shared a profound commitment to celebrating the female form. Alaïa’s meticulous tailoring and Mugler’s theatrical designs converge in a harmonious dialogue, highlighting their mutual influence and respect.

A friendship forged in fashion

Their paths crossed in 1979. Mugler, the bold showman with a taste for theatrics, asked Alaïa, the quietly brilliant technician, to craft a series of tuxedos for his Autumn/Winter show. The result was a sartorial spark that would ignite a decade of creative exchange and deep friendship. Alaïa, who trained more through fittings with clients than in any design school, was revered for his technical precision, the kind of mastery that placed him in the lineage of Cristóbal Balenciaga and Madeleine Vionnet.

That same year, Mugler publicly thanked him in the show’s press kit, and from that moment on, the two were inseparable. Mugler, always zipping through Paris on his bicycle, would bring top editors to Alaïa’s atelier. When New York’s Bergdorf Goodman invited Alaïa to present his designs in 1982, it was Mugler who convinced him the offer wasn’t a prank, then flew with him, organized the show, translated interviews, and hyped his friend with the energy of a one-man PR agency.