For the Alaïa Fall 2021 RTW collection, followers will recognize such iconic designs as the body-con black dress with a wraparound zip, now in long and short versions. They may also recall the intricacy of a coat held together with a technique the designer extrapolated from woodworking and transposed onto leather for a coat from 2006. Called charnière, the French word for hinge, it involves interlacing leather seams by hand in lieu of stitching. A rose-beige knit dress recalls the time a supplier turned up to show Monsieur Alaïa new lacelike techniques; he took them all and used them together for a corset dress.

The Fall ready-to-wear line revisits house techniques in new treatments and combinations that sometimes rival couture-level craftsmanship. African inspirations inform the weave of a graceful skirt in russet, beige, and black; the skater skirt is revisited in a sculptural Japanese fabric, and a white skirt picks up on origami techniques. The bestselling Basque shape returns as a rib-knit sweater, part of an expanded collection of plush basics.

An expanded selection of bags also focus on house signatures, and notably the corset, with varying degrees of success. Highlights include a sleek flare-shaped bucket bag and a new tote reprising house signatures in 3D jacquard or in wide, black fringe applied by hand.