Two years after the death of legendary French designer Thierry Mugler, his brand, now led by creative director Casey Cadwallader, continues to push forward Vision of the Creator from “A new woman… wild, sensual, powerful and enigmatic”.
Mugler became an icon of high fashion within the Nineteen Eighties, however it wasn't until the twenty first century that he shaped the mainstream imagination. He spent his last many years dressing mega-celebrities like Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, and in the method almost single-handedly invented the form of our current pop divas: what he called “that.”glamazon” see.
The classics include corseted waists, futuristic metal plates, exaggerated breasts and shoulders, insect- and reptilian-like garments, skin-tight bodysuits and lots of theatrical opulence. This look stays central to the Mugler brand and can likely be reflected within the designs of Mugler's upcoming Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show at Paris Fashion Week.
When Mugler died in 2022, it was said that he made headlines “Feminism sexy and powerful” and called him a “Visionary who’s serious about women”. However, originally of his profession, Mugler was often there Accused of sexism and from be offensive to women.
Despite the plain shift in public opinion toward his work over the past few many years, the vision that earned him criticism remains to be present in Mugler's brand identity and continues to merit closer examination.
Sex subjects or objects?
One of Mugler's last critics was feminist scholar Sheila Jeffreys, who accused him of reducing women “Objects for the sexual arousal of men”. His designs hindered respiration, distorted the body, hypersexualized women and portrayed them as insects. For Jeffreys, this was all evidence of this “extreme misogyny” and that girls are treated as things bending to the need of the (male) Creator, relatively than as human beings.
But many insisted this was a misunderstanding. Mugler harnessed femininity and made it a source of power relatively than subjugation. Feminist art historian Linda Nochlin said Mugler's approach was “so extreme that these women are not sex objects; they are sexual subjects”. The journalist Danièle Bott saw him not as a one that objectified the body, but relatively as “embark on a spiritual quest in search of perfection, a celebration of the body cult”.”
These designs sexualize women to the purpose where they turn from objects to subjects; so close that they will not be objectified but celebrated.
Last Dune: Part Two premieresAmerican actor Zendaya stunned fans in a vintage futuristic robot suit from Mugler's archives, complete with see-through buttocks and breasts. The actress was celebrated as “otherworldly”“metallic goddess”not only a sexual object.
Time and time again, Mugler's designs reach reviving an almost religious attitude of reverence towards women, giving them a robust feeling and appearance. But where does this power come from?
Divine things
One aspect of Thierry Mugler's creative genius was the range of characters that populated his shows: mermaids, dominatrixes, vampires, Amazons, cowgirls, ancient goddesses, bird women, insect women and space-age robots. There was all the time a brand new, exciting heroine to thrill his audience. But this diversity also reflected a fundamental principle of Mugler's vision: in all these manifestations, the Mugler woman is actually a fantasy, unreal and shape-shifting.
This ever-changing trait makes a Mugler woman an alluring mystery. That's why it's also necessary that her body looks not possible.
When Mugler designed an illusionary water-dripping flesh-colored dress for Kim Kardashian's 2019 Met Gala appearancethe result was so extreme People online wondered if ribs had been removed. But the painfully corseted Latex was essential. His strangeness transformed Kardashian from a person of flesh and bones into a robust one “Raindrop Queen”.
It is unclear whether that is the form of empowerment that feminists should strive for. The philosopher Simone de Beauvoir warned about this in The second gender: “As powerful as [a goddess] may appear, it is defined by ideas created by the male consciousness.”
With George Michael Too funky music video, it's Michael within the role of cameraman, watching these divine supermodels dominate the catwalk in Thierry Mugler's creations. Being a fantasy is an exhilarating experience but requires a spectator, a worshiper. And worship is a tough thing because the facility it gives is precarious and unstable.
Fashion critic Marylou Luther noticed that Mugler sent “Super supermodel Pat Cleveland designs heaven as the Virgin Mary One season she is (…) the next banished to hell as the bride of Lucifer.” In her eyes, this was just one in all him “playful disrespect”. But this oscillation is emblematic of the core logic of “woman as fantasy.” To remain a mystery, a stimulating enigma, she have to be an ethereal goddess one moment and a devilish vampire the following.
We needs to be careful here. Being a fantasy is a double-edged sword and accommodates the seeds of each adoration and deep hatred. Mugler's cult of girls as transcendental goddesses is dangerous because it may well quickly result in demonizing women and viewing them because the embodiment of evil. In fact, it requires this twist. At some point, even the brightest angel becomes boring and predictable.
image credit : theconversation.com