Manfred Thierry Mugler: Life as a Visionary
It was only in 2021 that people were amazed at the radiance of a simple "Sheer Bodysuit" by Mugler. Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé, Dua Lipa and Bella Hadid all wore the same version - in one year! Something rather unusual for the pop biz, it could be called a 'school uniform for pop stars'. Not least Kim Kardashian's appearance in his 'wet dress' at the 2018 MET Gala showed what Thierry Mugler's creations were all about.
Feather-light austerity, seductive curves - this is fashion as he saw it. As if sprung from a comic book, but instead with a seriousness that was unparalleled. Above all, Mugler was relentlessly perfectionist in the execution of his models. How his wearers could move in them was often secondary. Kim Kardashian, not least, had to call on help in the toilet at the MET Gala to escape the latex dress for a brief moment. And even during the fittings, she breathed: "I have never experienced such pain in my life." Welcome to the world of Thierry Mugler.
Mugler was also not afraid to seek help for his creations. With the legendary corset maker Mr Pearl, he created waistlines for a long time that not only took the models' breath away. They were exhibited last year in the exhibition "Thierry Mugler: Courturissime" at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
To call Mugler a pure trendsetter of the 80s and 90s is to fall short: fashion followed his collections rather than the other way round.
When he showed the world what he was made of with his couture spring collection in 1997 ("Insect Woman"), it was hard to escape his vision. In the middle of it, all were his favourite models, like Jerry Hall or Linda Evangelista. The metamorphosis he subjected his wearers to here - from vamp to playful girly - could later also be found in his own life, when he radically reinvented himself and trained himself to become a bodybuilder.
Born in Strasbourg in 1948, Mugler trained as a ballet dancer as a child and joined the ballet company of the National Rhine Opera at the age of 14. Here one might assume that the imprint for the many classical inspirations of his designs also came, as one might always assume, for example, to have a Queen of the Night or Wagner's Valkyries in front of him.
The staging was generally the major theme of his work, and he saw fashion as the central point, which made its wearers seem almost superhuman.
At the age of 20, Mugler finally came to Paris and showed his first collection "Café de Paris" in 1973. With his designs, he brought a fantastic, almost fairytale-like spectacle to the catwalk, inspired by cars, insects, and animal hybrids.
Thierry Mugler revolutionised the beauty industry
One of the most groundbreaking fragrances ever seen in the beauty industry and founded the "gourmand" fragrance division. Last but not least, fragrance maker Kilian Hennessy also told L'Officiel Austria in an interview that the creation of the fragrance signifies a milestone in the industry to this day and is similar to Shalimar by Guerlain. The selling power Thierry Mugler had even after his big shows are shown by the creation of "Alien", which was launched in 2005 after "Angel": 280 million US dollars were earned annually in sales with it.
And of course, we didn't want to forget the video of George Michael's "Too Funky", which featured an array of supermodels and rear-view mirrors and took the Mugler era to the extreme. Things quietened down for him in the 2010s. He remained a consultant for the Clarins Group, which continued to distribute his fragrances, but you could no longer count on flashy couture productions that took the world's breath away.
In the last years Mugler's name "came back to life", influencing a new superstar era with his looks by not only directing Beyoncé's "I am ..." world-tour or Circque du Soleil "Zumanity" show. Just a stone in the huge mosaic of his legacy that will stay with us.
Photo: Dominique Issermann
