Azzedine Alaïa, Thierry Mugler: Two Decades of Artistic Affinities

Contemporaries, collaborators, and friends, Azzedine Alaïa and Thierry Mugler influenced each other's designs in terms of form, fluidity, and abstraction.

Tunisian designer Azzedine Alaïa (1935–2017) first met French couturier Thierry Mugler (1948–2022) in 1979, forming a creative dialogue and personal friendship that lasted until their deaths. Both deified women, proclaiming the return of glamour with Hollywood as their inspiration. They shared a common silhouette where majestic shoulders contrasted with cinched waists and flourishing hips, co-authors of the new stylistic language of the 1980s. While Mugler had a gift for spectacle, Alaïa preferred intimacy and perfection. Their day and evening wear echoed each other, dictating a four-handed fashion style that marked contemporary fashions. In this curated selection, the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa presents 35 designs by Thierry Mugler alongside 35 creations by Azzedine Alaïa, tracing the simultaneous evolution of their careers and the notions of line, silhouette, and form that they freely exchanged.

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