Revealed in Paris, ALAÏA unveils its third Dialogue exhibition as a sophisticated conversation between fashion and furniture—between the ephemeral and the eternal. At the heart of this narrative sits Le Teckel, Pieter Mulier's latest architectural statement handbag for the maison. Crafted with the house's signature precision, the bag's sculpted silhouette emerges from supple leathers, its distinctive curved handle echoing the architectural principles that have guided the house since its inception.
In the image before us, it perches with quiet confidence atop Pierre Chareau's 1922 sofa—a masterwork of macassar ebony and caramel-hued upholstery offered by Galerie Vallois. The composition, captured through Katja Rahlwes' lens, speaks to the tension between function and form that has always defined ALAÏA's aesthetic.
The dialogue extends beyond this single frame. Curator Florence Muller has orchestrated a series of thoughtful pairings across Paris' most venerated design galleries, each one revealing a unique facet of Le Teckel's architectural character. At Galerie Patrick Seguin, the bag converses with Jean Prouvé's S.A.M Tropique table (1951), its utilitarian genius matching the bag's functional elegance. Galerie Jacques Lacoste stages a meeting with Charlotte Perriand's Table Forme Libre (c.1956), where organic freedom meets structured grace. At Galerie Maxime Flatry, Michel Dufet's 1931 dining table provides a modernist counterpoint, while Galerie Kiyama presents a dialogue with Tanabe Chikuunsai II's 1945 vases. The journey concludes at Galerie Kreo, where Ronan Bouroullec's 2024 coffee table brings the conversation into the present. Each pairing reads like a carefully composed sentence in design's enduring narrative, with the bag's hand-stitched contours and mathematical precision finding their echo in each piece's exacting standards.
What makes this exhibition particularly poignant is its timing. As fashion houses race toward the future with increasingly digital presentations and virtual experiences, ALAÏA chooses to ground itself in the tangible, the tactile, the real. Here is a bag that commands attention through its architectural presence—much like the Chareau sofa it adorns. The meticulous construction process requires masterful handwork to achieve its seemingly simple form.
In this moment, we witness a cultural conversation where a handbag becomes both participant and mediator in design's ongoing discourse. Welcoming the house's timeless design, each stitch speaks to history while writing its own future. The exhibition, on display now at these six premier Parisian galleries, offers a rare glimpse where Le Teckel serves as both object and objective, medium and message.
