“I am…” Yes, Beyoncé is comfortable in her body. The creative genius that is Thierry Mugler is the “costume designer” and “creative advisor” of the World Tour 2009. A real fashion show with 58 costumes, including nine looks for Beyoncé, and three that resonate even more… “He understands me perfectly” she will say. Beyoncé succumbed to Mugler at her very first MET Gala, in 2008, when the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opened its exhibition with great fanfare: “Superheroes : Fashion and Fantasy”There were the famous “motorcycle” bustiers and robot bodies among the many models reminiscent of the work of Thierry Mugler.
Of all the fashion designers, he is the one who has most glorified superheroes in his collections.so often at the crossroads of fashion and fantasies. A legacy perpetuated by Casey Cadwallader, as illustrated in the documentary Inside the dream: in the footsteps of Thierry Mugler (Canal +) which notably returns to the appearance of Zendaya in a robot suit autumn-winter 1995-1996, two years after the disappearance of Manfred Thierry Mugler, and while his house celebrates its 50th anniversary.
“Muglerized” worlds
It was necessary to give justice to Thierry Mugler’s fashion and his allegorical images — the designer had been directing his own advertising campaigns since this shoot with Helmut Newton, who, a bit exasperated by the designer’s comments, handed him his camera to let him frame the shots as he pleased, like a grown-up. It was in 1978, when they were shooting the campaign for the “Hiver militaire” collection. A collection as strong as ever, with references to Soviet uniforms and science fiction comics, heavily shouldered silhouettes and very special space headdresses. Thierry Mugler, 33, revealed his passion for cartoons. A hit!
That year (1978), he also attacked men whom he “muggled” and he inaugurated, at 10 Place des Victoires, a incredible boutique designed by Andrée Putman, a landmark for women of the 80s. Mugler is whirling, he is triumphant. The miracle of his work is to be at once full of retro references while being avant-garde, whimsical and yet practical/pragmatic.
Thierry Mugler creates worlds, that he opens to the greatest number. 6,000 people (2,000 guests and 4,000 aficionados who paid 175 francs) came to see his monumental fashion show at the Zénith in Paris on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his house in 1984. He, the former dancer of the Ballet of the National Opera of the Rhineembraces different careers, all linked by his love of fashion, image, show business, Music and the stage. Fashion must be shown in its environment, musical and theatrical, so he stages his shows in which he parades star models and stars in general – he has understood that with celebrities comes celebrity. Diana Ross, Amanda Lear, Cyd Charisse or Tippi Hedren play his game.
The apotheosis of Mugler will be his anniversary show on the runway of the Cirque d’Hiver, on March 16, 1995. 20 years of creation now, commemorated in one hour. Displaying his passions, assuming his fantasies, loudly asserting his dreams, he destroys the anxieties of an increasingly anxiety-provoking society. Thierry Mugler is a resistance fighter who defies fashion and its world, going so far as to offer himself haute couture workshops at the wrong time — thanks to Angelits best-selling perfume, its financial windfall. The couture adventure lasted five years (1997-2002) and now he is taking a bow. He calls himself Manfred T. Mugler and prefers to dedicate himself to other artistic projects, such as the costumes for the show Zumanity, presented by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas (2003-2020). He creates the revue Mugler Follies at the Théâtre Comédia in Paris (2013-2015), and stages The Wyld — the most expensive show ever produced in Europe — at the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (2014-2016).
In the meantime, the MET and fashion have remembered him, Beyoncé has grabbed him and a new generation of media stars have fallen for him, from Lady Gaga to Rihanna, from Céline Dion to Rita Ora. Kim Kardashian caused a bigger sensation than ever at the MET Gala in 2019, in a “wet look” designed by him.
Kim will regularly wear archival pieces. Cardi B too. The images of the rapper in Mugler at the 2019 Grammy Awards are persistent. Of the three looks, we will remember the incredible dress inspired by the painting The Birth of Venus Botticelli and then the stretch jumpsuit, panther effects with velvet and rhinestone applications matched with a frame skirt with its horsehair fringe. Two totally crazy models that date from the 20th anniversary collection…
Manfried Thierry Mugler for Beyoncé, the warrior wardrobe
And it is in light of this remarkable journey that we better understand why Queen B recognized herself in Mugler’s creations. She too, a mirror of an era, the incarnation of the dreams of many of her contemporaries. I Am… World Tour This was Beyoncé’s third international tour, and she ordered nearly sixty stage costumes from the designer, some of which were more striking.
First there is the one from the finale, clearly inspired by a look from the “Music-hall” collection (winter 1990). It is a fitted black jacket, embroidered with scarification patterns in crystal rhinestones, on equally embroidered breeches. “Muglerian” to death, like this other robotic silhouette, in silver metal and plexiglass, which recalls the homage to the character Futura in Metropolisseen in the 20th anniversary parade, 1995 — it had been necessary six months to complete it, with the help of an aeronautical boilermaker and an industrial designer.
Here is Beyoncé, changed/transformed, singing Diva. She wears a body sculpted like the front of an American car from the 50s. We see again the Lady Cadillac from the “Hiver Buick” collection (winter 1990), in homage to Harley J. Earl, who designed the famous fins of the Cadillac Eldorado of 1959. A flagship model, which will inspire others, even funkier, such as the “motorcycle” bustier in plexiglass, worn by the top Emma Sjöberg, groovy and sexy, in the video Too Funkywhich Mugler provided to George Michael in 1992. Beyoncé asked Manfred to dig it out of the Thierry Mugler archives when Peter Lindbergh photographed her to illustrate the album I Am… Sasha Fierce. This model from the “Les Cowboys” collection (summer 1992) had caught the eye of the star and her stylist Ty Hunter — both natives of Texas, for the record.
Jump in time, September 2021. Cardi B shows off an impressive coat with a marabou, pheasant and rooster feather collar on the sequined sheath embroidered with rubies and garnets, we are at the opening of the exhibition “Thierry Mugler, Couturissime”at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. He wanted to call it “Beyond Couture” [Au-delà de la couture]but the name was already taken so let’s go for it “Couturissime”ultimately more universal and funnier when it comes to retracing his exemplary career, marked by ideas, shocks, beauty and ultimately the dream. A dream that is definitely not weakening.
