Much of my interest in women's fashion depends on the hunkiness of the designer. Thierry Mugler topped them all in that regard, especially when posing for Jean Paul Goude in 1998. I have a thing for centaurs, too.
What a shame that he morphed into a caricature of masculinity after deciding he'd rather "design" his body with plastic surgery (several testosterone-fueled injuries initiated the process), pumping iron and probably shooting steroids. Steven Klein took this grotesque photo for Interviewerer Tippi Hedren. It hides his nose, broken in a jeep accident and rebuilt with bones from his hip. The man used every conceivable material for his dresses, why not for his face, too?
However, Couturissime, the retrospective exhibition that opened at the Brooklyn Museum just ten months after Mugler's death at 73 last year, establishes that he had few peers in the fashion world during the 80s and 90s when celebrities clamored to be dressed by a former ballet dancer who understood the power of theatricality more than most. Luckily, his heyday coincided with print media's final blaze of glory, when magazines like Vogue had unlimited budgets for fashion shoots.
Hiver Buick
Fall/Winter 1989-90
After encountering this early breast plate fit for an Amazon at a New York Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit, none other than Beyoncé asked Mugler to join her "I Am . . . Sasha Fierce" world tour as artistic director.
Hiver des anges (10th Anniversary)
Fall/Winter 1984-85
Here's how to out-Madonna, Madonna, another big fan who wore Mugler most recently during her embarrassing appearance at the Grammy's this year. Come to think of it, it seems she has given up music for face sculpting, too!
Music-hall
Fall Winter 1990-91
Sometimes less was more for Mugler. Pat Cleveland mugged for Steven Meisel's camera while modeling this thingamajiggy (what would you call it?). She wore more in Mykonos when I rode the ferry with her to Super Paradise Beach.
Superstar Diana Ross
Spring Summer 1991
Like most gay men, Mugler probably was a size queen in the bedroom. He borrowed Jeff Stryker, a porn star, for a Pierre et Gilles hand-painted phot shoot. Like a couple of giddy school girls, Barnet and I once went to one of Stryker's personal appearances. He was shilling for a dildo molded from his his penis (plaster casting!), which remains a best seller, while dating a woman that Barnet worked with at VH1. Those were the days!
Les Cow-boys
Spring/Summer 1992
It looks like a visit to Vegas may have inspired this ensemble. For some reason, the "cow-girl" is carrying what looks like a Big Mac. She can't have eaten too many of those.
These shoes coordinate with rest of a "gold medal" outfit. Money changes everything.
Bowie wore this green suit in "You Belong in Rock 'n Roll," a video he did with Tin Machine. It always tickled me that two of his bandmates were the sons of Soupy Sales, a surreal connection if ever there was one.
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| Photo by Brian Aris (1991) |
Longchamps
Spring/Summer 1994
Anniversaire des 20 ans
Fall/Winter 1995-96
The "Venus" dress Mugler designed for his 20th anniversary collection is unforgettable.
Look a the incredible detail.
Have you ever seen a more sardonic accessory?
Another showgirl. Mugler's couture dazzles.
Cardi B did. She peacocked her way into the 2019 Grammys wearing this number from the vintage closet. Everything old can be new again. Except people.
I don't think this crinoline dress quite qualifies as what Thom calls a "cover up."
In the mid-90s, Mugler created Angel, a "a scent of chocolate and caramel, a classic fragrance a little boy would give his mother." It sold like hotcakes. Mugler, a fan of remote locations, photographed Jerry Hall in White Sands for the ad campaign wearing a gown from "Ritz," his Fall/Winter 1992-93 collection.
Les Insectes
Spring/Summer 1997
Mugler was firing on all cylinders for this collection which must have cost a pretty penny.
La Chimere
Fall/Winter 1997-98
Mr. Pearl, a South African corset maker and Mugler worked 24/7 for six weeks to create this sheath gown, reputedly one of the most expensive ever made.
I prefer the simple boa constrictor look.
Les Tranches
Summer 1999
A throwback to the glam era.
Les Meduses
Fall/Winter 1999-2000
Although Mugler quit fashion in the early 2000s and reverted to the use of his nerdy first name, Manfred (you know there's more to the story than you'll ever find out in a museum exhibit), he continued creating bespoke stage costumes. His work looked just as at home in Vegas as in Berlin.
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| "Zumanity" (2003) |
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| "The Wyld" (2014) |
This outfit--which pulses with light--so intrigued me that I forgot to identify it.
I wondered if the darkness of these galleries alluded to the back rooms frequented by gay men.
Cara Delevigne, shot here by Mariano Vivanco in 2019, looks as if she were born to model Mugler now and forever, as if AI had been prompted to come up with the woman of the future.
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