On January 23, fashion designer Manfred Thierry Mugler passed away at the age of 73. His official Instagram account posted the bad news on Jan. 24.
Thierry Mugler in Helmut Newton's shot
Although Thierry Mugler's career peaked before the advent of the Internet age and he "retired" from the fashion industry in 2002, Thierry Mugler's influence has not stopped for 20 years.
Younger generations of designers continue to pay tribute to this avant-garde master, such as Rick Owens, Alexander McQueen and Jeremy Scott, who have all been influenced by Mugler.
There are also stars wearing Mugler's designs that make a splash on the red carpet and on stage. Recent examples include Cardi B's "Mussel Hardcover" on the Grammy red carpet in 2019 and Kim Kardashian's "Water Drops" at the Met Gala. These designers and celebrities introduced Mugler's stunning work to more millennials and Gen Z. It is foreseeable that this transmission will continue in the future, which is essentially the charm and vitality of Mugler's works.
Manfred Thierry Mugler was born in Strasbourg, France in 1948, and in 1973 he presented his first collection "Café de Paris" in Paris, officially founding the Thierry Mugler brand the following year. His early experience as a ballet dancer greatly influenced his later creations, and the focus on the body, as well as the show-like fashion show, are characteristic of Mugler's work.
Wide-shouldered, slim-waisted power suits, mechanical suits, insect suits, motorcycle suits, as well as grand performances such as his grand performances for the brand's 20th anniversary, and MVs created for George Michael's "Too Funky" are all enjoyed by fashion lovers.
Mugler's other identity is that of a photographer. In addition to a few seasons with Helmut Newton, he personally shot a number of the brand's advertising campaigns, and he often shoots blockbusters for magazines. From Soviet monuments to The Chrysler Building in New York, from the landscape of Guilin to the Sahara Desert and the Arctic, models in costumes are part of a natural or man-made spectacle in a moving way.
Behind these wonderful images, photographers and models take huge risks, such as the one in the Chrysler Building, where Mugler was shot down on a ladder and peeked out of a high-rise window, without any protective measures such as safety ropes. With the mentality of "ready to die for the United States", he created crazy but beautiful images.
A turning point in his career came in 1997. That year, clarins acquired the Thierry Mugler brand, in 2002 he officially retired, the following year, Clarins closed the brand's ready-to-wear line, which was not restarted until 2010, and now the brand is owned by the L'Oréal Group.
Clarins acquired Thierry Mugler because the brand's perfumes were so successful. Thierry Mugler's 1992 perfume Angel is still very popular today, and many people may have known him through this perfume in the first place.
Classic advertising for Angel perfume
After leaving his personal brand, Thierry Mugler retired from the center stage of the fashion industry, but was active in various fields. In his personal social media notes, he lists a list of identities: director, program planner, perfume creator, costume designer, photographer.
In 2019, his solo photo album Manfred Thierry Mugler, Photographer was released, and in the same year, his large retrospective "Thierry Mugler, Couturissime" was held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada. Last September, the touring exhibition went to Paris, where Mugler had witnessed its glory (and the exhibition is still ongoing).
Last year, Jean Paul Gaultier also attended the opening of Mugler's Paris Retrospective, where two masters of fashion at the end of the last century were in the same frame
In an interview at the time, Mugler also spoke with great interest about the projects underway: new perfumes and furniture collections, he was also designing performance costumes for ballets, new albums were in preparation, and two other projects in China.
Unfortunately, Thierry Mugler left before these works were released.
But we can at least be confident that the gorgeous performances created by Thierry Mugler will not end, and the images he creates will not fade. Generations of fashion lovers will marvel at the fashion dreams he built at the end of the 20th century.
The picture in this article is from @manfredthierrymugler.