OUTRAGEOUS THIERRY MUGLER
Erotically Provoking Us With His Genius Creations
And just like that, we’ve lost another fashion icon.
Thierry Mugler, the S&M-loving French designer who almost single-handedly ushered in a new fashion aesthetic in the late 70s/early 80s, passed away last Sunday at his home in Vincennes, outside Paris.
At 26, Mugler introduced his namesake brand after making his clothes during his early days in Paris. Harrods quickly picked up his pieces, and after being photographed by Helmut Newton (the godfather of S&M chic) for an earlier campaign, Mugler’s brand began to morph into what we know today. As his popularity grew, so did his shows.
No one could match the theatrics of Mugler’s runway presentations. For instance, in 1984, Mugler took over the Zenith, a sports arena in Paris. Known as the grandest fashion spectacle since the famed 1973 “Battle of Versailes,” Mugler’s show at the Zenith included everything from a smoke-billowing stage to none other than Pat Cleveland descending from the ceiling dressed like a demented angel.
Thierry Mugler was also known for embracing gay iconography when doing so was considered taboo. At the height of the AIDS crisis, outwardly embracing gay culture wasn’t a thing. So while pretty much every designer at the time chose the “know about it but don’t address it” approach, Mugler was busy sending drag queens like Lypsinka down his runways. Sadly, however, his bold stance got him all but passed over by significant fashion publications (including Bazaar, which was known as the most adventurous fashion magazine at the time).
Nonetheless, stores still clamored for his clothes. By the mid-90s, Mugler began experimenting with film and photography, and his spectacular 20th-anniversary show in Paris demonstrated just that. The exhibition was opened by none other than Hitchcock muse Tippi Hedren as she descended a giant staircase while music from “The Birds” played. The show was rumored to cost nearly $2 million and was pretty much entirely paid for by the success of Mugler’s fragrance, Angel. This, in turn, caught the attention of beauty conglomerate Clarins, which purchased a majority stake in Mugler’s brand.
Mugler was on the outs again in 2002 and exited his brand as minimalism came back into style. However, this doesn’t mean that he stopped working. He became Creative Director of hit Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show Zumanity in 2003. It led to a myriad of up-and-coming starlets and designers pouring through his archives for show stopping looks. From McQueen’s couture punk to Rick Owens’s “Mad Max” to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” his influence was everywhere. After Beyoncé wore Mugler’s famed motorcycle bustier on her cover of the, I Am…Sasha Fierce album and then hired him to do all of her costumes for the subsequent tour.
In the mid-2000s, Mugler went back into the shadows yet again as he began a physical transformation into a barrel-chested, leather-wearing supervillain (who, by the way, he dubbed “Manfred”). His nude photos leaked, which sadly took him into tabloid fodder territory. But as the red carpets of the late 2010s began to resemble costume competitions more so than actual ceremony openers, Mugler again found his footing and returned to the forefront. Cardi B’s 2019 Grammys look was plucked from his archives, and perhaps even more famously, Kim Kardashian got Mugler’s first original design in years out of him for the 2019 Met Gala. His fantastically-beaded, wet-illusion dress made Kim one of the best dressed that year, which in turn introduced Mugler to scores of new fans, and perhaps even led to the “Thierry Mugler: Couturissime” exhibit in Paris.
Thierry Mugler left an undeniable, sex-fueled mark on the fashion industry, and his influence will undoubtedly continue to inspire countless collections to come. Anytime you see the famed ‘80s upside-down triangle silhouette (broad shoulders, cinched waist), you can thank Mugler for that. And anytime you see incredibly well-made BDSM-inspired fashion, you can thank him again. Mugler turned his women into superheroes, and we will be forever grateful for that.
