“Fashion is a movie. Every morning when you get dressed, you direct yourself.” – Thierry Mugler
Brief Overview:
- French Luxury Fashion House
- Founder: Thierry Mugler (1945-2022)
- Founded: 1973
- Innovations:
- Rejected minimalism trend and Introduced eccentric overblown designs in the 80s and 90s.
- Theatrical runways: Mugler revolutioned the once silent, simple catwalk drawing from science fiction and fictional characters.
- Created erotic designs with a flare of whimsy and sci fi – his love of latex, leather and other S&M style materials was often showcased.
- Risque, Futuristic Sci-Fi & Fictitious
Thierry Mugler Quotes:
- “The potential of your body is endless.” – Thierry Mugler
- “I want my models to be bigger, stronger and taller than common mortals.” – Thierry Mugler
- “I made clothes because I was looking for something that didn’t exist. I had to try to create my own world.” – Thierry Mugler
The History of Mugler
Thierry Mugler was born in Strasbourg, France in 1948. In 1972 Thierry Mugler moved to Paris and worked as a freelance designer for various fashion houses. He launched his namesake brand “Thierry Mugler” and its first collection “Cafe de Paris” in Paris in 1973, later opening his Parisian boutique in 1978. Mugler’s designs gained popularity quickly, soon growing an international fan base for his designs. He introduced a theatrical, hyper-femme concept to high fashion through his innovative, avant-garde designs. Although Mugler’s first collection was sophisticated and urban, the brand has become synonymous with sex appeal and fetishistic style.
In 1992, Mugler launched the house’s first haute couture collection, inspired by fetishes. Mugler confirmed he drew inspiration from dominatrixes; the collection consisted of latex, rubber and feathers to bring his vision alive.
Fashion was not the only area that Mugler conquered. Among other fields, he was also very prevalently involved in perfumery. Also, in 1992 he launched his first perfume: Angel. Angel became one of the best-selling perfumes of the 20th century, cementing Mugler as a top perfumer.
Throughout his career, Mugler made his pro-diversity stance very clear; he ensured diversity was apparent in his fashion shows, tackling many social issues such as racism, ageism and homophobia on his runways. He invited non-traditional models such as pornstars, drag queens and transgender women to walk on his runways.
Thierry Mugler stepped down from his label when Clarins closed his ready-to-wear line due to financial losses in 2002. Clarins kept the fragrance line as it was profitable. Mugler seemingly retired from the fashion industry in 2003 to focus on fragrances and costume design. Mugler said, “Fashion is beautiful, 3-D art on a human being. But it wasn’t enough, which is why I went on to create in other ways. For me, it wasn’t the right tool anymore.”
He chose to go by his birth name ‘Manfred’ saying “Thierry Mugler” was a label and a brand, so he intended to move on to other endeavours as a result. He also underwent radical physical transformation through plastic surgery and bodybuilding, citing: I wanted my face to represent progress because, after years of being a thin, charming dancer, I wanted to be a warrior. I’ve done so much in my life. I’ve fought so much. I’m a superhero, so it’s normal to have the face of one.”
Mugler’s ready-to-wear line was re-debuted in 2010 as “Mugler” (dropped Thierry) under the creative direction of Nicola Formichetti.
In 2019, Mugler came out of retirement and styled Kim Kardashian for the Met Gala in the iconic wet couture dress (see below). He dressed Cardi B in three archival pieces when she became the first woman to win a Grammy award for the best rap album.
The brand is currently under the creative leadership of Casey Cadwallader in 2022. Sadly, Thierry Mugler passed away in January 2022 at 73 years old, but he will always be remembered as a true pioneer of Fashion and fragrance.
Signature Styles & Iconic Designs
La Chimère Gown, AW 1997-98
La Chimère is considered one of the most expensive haute couture dresses in fashion history due to the time and expertise that went into its creation. The gown took two years to complete, and it was created in collaboration with Jean-Jacques Urcun and Mr Pearl, the renowned South African corset-maker. Mr Pearl said It took more than 1000 hours (around 6 weeks) just for embroidery. The dress consists of intricate details such as colourful pearls, feathers, and scales (individually hand-painted). This gown was featured in the “”Thierry Mugler: Couturissme”” exhibition in Rotterdam Kunsthal.
Wet Couture Dress, Met Gala 2019
Thierry Mugler came out of retirement to design the iconic wet couture dress in which he dressed Kim Kardashian for the 2019 met gala under the theme ‘Camp: Notes on fashion.’ The racy, skin-tight, crystal-beaded, nude latex dress reportedly took 8 months to create. According to Kim, his vision was a dripping-wet, Californian girl that had just stepped out of the ocean.
Birth of Venus Dress, FW 1995-96
Mugler’s dress, inspired by Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” painting, debuted in his anniversary collection of 1995. The dress is a Swarovski-crystal satin sheath gown. During his after-retirement debuts, Manfred opened the Mugler archives and dressed Cardi B in this dress for the Grammy Awards in 2019.
Thierry Mugler Biographies
Books
- Thierry Mugler – Thierry-Maxime Loriot
- Manfred Thierry Mugler, Photographer – Manfred Thierry Mugler
- Thierry Mugler: Fashion, Fetish, Fantasy – Claude Deloffre & Marylou Luther
