History of Thierry Mugler Fashion
Iconic French fashion designer Thierry Mugler is known for bold fashion and edgy, sometimes even campy, theatricality. In the 1980s, he was famous for staging elaborate and dramatic choreographed fashion shows and experimented with unusual materials and controversial political and cultural references. Though Mugler stopped designing his couture and ready-to-wear lines in 2003 to focus on photography and costume design, his work has a lasting legacy. Does this Spark an idea?
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The Beginnings
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Thierry Mugler was born in Strasbourg in 1948, and joined the Rhine Opera as a ballet dancer at age 14. Upon moving to Paris six years later, however, he began experimenting with making his own clothes. After working in a series of fashion jobs, he launched his own eponymous label in 1974 and started producing designs influenced by street and punk fashion.
Fantasy and Spectacle
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His designs became known for architectural shapes, experimental fabrics like rubber and PVC, and themes drawn from art, technology, motor vehicles, science fiction, robots and erotica, among other subjects. The interplay of all of these elements fit the power and excess that defined '80s fashion, but his imaginative constructions delved further into fantasy and spectacle than any of his contemporaries.
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Sensational Shows
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Mugler's ready-to-wear fashion shows in the 1980s and 1990s were anything but conventional. In nearly hour-long productions, unusually long for a fashion show, he sent men down the runway in dresses and women in dominatrix gear or robot costumes, and used animals as props. He evoked the sadistic and erotic sides of Hollywood glamour and choreographed dramatic scenes through which normally subdued fashion models became vivacious dancers and actors. The clothing itself was not secondary of course. During these years Mugler created women's couture and ready-to-wear inspired by pure fantasy and extreme proportions, but that translated into modern shapes and volumes that could be worn off the runway.
The End of Thierry Mugler Couture
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In 1990, French luxury company Clarins collaborated with Mugler to create a Thierry Mugler Parfums and a Thierry Mugler signature fragrance, Angel. In 1997, Clarins acquired part of Thierry Mugler Couture, and by 2003 Mugler had officially left to work on his own projects, stopping the production couture and ready-to-wear clothing lines. Designer Rosemary Rodriguez relaunched the ready-to-wear brand in 2008, and in 2010, Nicola Formichetti, a stylist for Lady Gaga, joined the company as creative director and designer of women's and men's ready-to-wear. Formichetti is credited with reviving the label's popularity among celebrities. She left the role in spring of 2013, with Mugler himself also abdicating creative responsibilities to Thierry Mugler Parfums.
Thierry Mugler Today
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After Mugler retired from his label, he decided to focus on photography and costume design. After collaborating on tour costumes for pop stars like Beyonce and George Michael, he turned his attention to New York drag cabaret artist Joey Arias, for whom he has produced boundary-pushing, groundbreaking drag clothing for performance. As Arias noted to the Los Angeles Times in 2009, "Mugler loves to see the human form pushed to the limits," which is why, though he is no longer at the helm of his label, Mugler will certainly continue to be relevant for some time.
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References
- The Independent: Fashion: Thierry Mugler
- Fashion Encyclopedia: Mugler, Thierry
- Fashion Passes: Icons: Thierry Mugler
- Los Angeles Times: Joey Arias and Thierry Mugler's Design Collaboration
- Vogue Paris: The Vogue List: Thierry Mugler
- Art Forum: Thierry Mugler Ready-to-Wear
- New York Times: Thierry Mugler Leaving Mugler Fragrance
- Photo Credit Samir Hussein/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
