Legendary designer Manfred Thierry Mugler dies

On January 23, Manfred Thierry Mugler’s official Instagram account issued an announcement announcing the death of famous fashion designer Manfred Thierry Mugler. The announcement did not reveal too much information. (Mugler has always kept his real age secret, but according to the Wikipedia entry, he was born in 1948 and was 73.)

Designer, photographer, director, perfumer… This legendary designer who has multiple jobs and has been in seclusion for 20 years is still able to trigger Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s “archaeological frenzy” with his avant-garde and bold old works. Using scissors to outline the sexy and powerful silhouette of women, he was one of the fashion masters who led the trend of “power dress” and empowered women in the 80s.

Manfred Thierry Mugler was born in Strasbourg, France. He loves painting and studied classical dance since childhood. At the age of 9, he began to study ballet systematically, at the age of 14 he joined the ballet company of the Rhine Opera, and at the same time began to study interior design at the Academy of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg.

Mugler’s fashion career began in London, where he designed a lot of “swinging 60s” fashion. In an interview with WWD, he recalled the good old days. Mugler said: “It was fun and full of ingenious designs. Most importantly, it was a real social scene. Every Saturday afternoon, all the young people would wear incredible clothes, full of energy and confidence. on the King’s Road.”

At the age of 24, Mugler moved to Paris, where he designed the Gudule boutique and created clothes for several fashion houses in the UK, Spain and Italy. “My first job in Paris was at Gudule, the most fashionable store in Paris at the time, and they hired me just because I was good-looking. They looked me up and down, not even looking at the sketches I brought, just with I said ‘starting work from Monday’,” he said proudly.

In 1973, Manfred Thierry Mugler presented his vision for the golden age of Hollywood with his first collection, Café de Paris, based on the elegant style of the 50s. Although his eclectic naked sexiness can be said to have nothing to do with “elegance” in the traditional sense, in the bright color and self-consciousness of the 1970s, his unique and bold designs were received by the fashion media and the industry. appreciation. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but after I showed my designs in Paris, my fashion career took off very quickly. Back then, fashion was very folksy and I wanted to do that very Pure Parisian tailoring: black suits, trench coats, black dresses. My first collection was very precise and very dance-influenced,” he recalls.

This series of releases attracted Melka Tréanton, fashion editor of the French edition of ELLE, who not only helped Manfred Thierry Mugler get the opportunity to work with Shiseido, but also provided great help in brand promotion.

In 1974, Mugler established his eponymous label in Paris and began to dabble in menswear design. In 1992, Didier Grumbach, president of the French haute couture union, appointed him to set up the haute couture line. At Paris Haute Couture Week, Mugler presented his first couture collection, the same year he launched the still-classic Angel fragrance.

Sexy, aggressive, and highly futuristic and sci-fi design aesthetics allow him to bring haute couture into a new era and leave an indelible chapter in the history of world fashion.

Between the 1980s and 1990s was the heyday of Mugler. Motorcycles, sea creatures, vampires, and birds are all his sources of inspiration, and on his show, the estrangement between the general public and the fashion industry no longer exists, and the number of custom clothing on display changes at will. The almost “crazy” design makes each of his haute couture shows like a avant-garde fashion drama, a “dream parade” that integrates dance, architecture, natural creatures, and future technology.

In 1997, beauty brand Clarins acquired Mugler’s personal brand. In 2002, Clarins decided to close the brand’s ready-to-wear line. In 2003, Manfred Thierry Mugler announced that he was leaving his brand, saying that he was no longer excited about designing clothes because of excessive commercial expansion.

Although he left his own brand and began to focus on the creation of fragrances, the legend of Mugler never went far, and he inadvertently created the supermodel phenomenon of stars. In 2009, at Beyonce’s strong invitation, Mugler returned to the fashion industry and designed her extremely classic gold armor Look. In 2019, Cardi B lent 4 gowns from the Mugler Archives in Paris and wore one of the shell-shaped gowns on the Grammys red carpet. According to statistics, the search volume of the term “Cardi B” has increased by 146% year-on-year since then.

In September 2021, Manfred Thierry Mugler’s retrospective exhibition “Thierry Mugler: Couturissime” was officially opened at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris. The exhibition brings together 150 garments made by Mugler from 1977 to 2014, as well as numerous photographs taken by him. This is Mugler’s first exhibition in France, and he is very happy, saying: “My work is closely related to sculpture, painting and all other decorative arts, and I am very happy that they can be displayed so harmoniously in the decorative arts museum.”

While Mugler’s clothing has long since moved away from the lives of ordinary consumers, his passing is still remembered among fashion lovers. Because the imaginative and highly free clothing design he represents was the most exciting part of “old fashion” before the rise of trendy and people-friendly strategies.

Fast-paced operation, careful thinking in business and marketing, today’s designers have to add more creativity to their creations. It is certainly a choice to insist on self-confidence to say goodbye to the fashion industry with strutting and pride like Mugler. Maybe fashion later people can find a more perfect balance in it.