Accumulated in utmost secrecy and never revealed during his lifetime, the sumptuous selection of garments ranges from the nineteenth-century elegance of Jacques Doucet and the House of Worth to the names that shaped twentieth-century fashion--Chanel, Balenciaga, Dior, Schiaparelli--and contemporary innovators such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen.

Captured in specially taken photographs, these meticulously crafted pieces are a tribute to Alaïa's unerring tastes, to the couturiers who inspired and influenced him, and to his endless respect for the craftspeople who created such objects of lasting beauty.