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nytimes
February 25, 2007
The Remix
Future Shock
By HORACIO SILVA
He’s still spacey after all these years. “We all become angels,” says Thierry Mugler, sitting in his New York penthouse, with the conviction of someone who has seen the future. “And I relate to space because it helps me realize that nothing is as important as you first think. There’s always something bigger.”
While it’s tempting to dismiss him as the Shirley MacLaine of fashion, Mugler moonwalks it like he talks it and has steadfastly adhered to his fantastical aesthetic since the early 1970s. Now, seven years after the crash of his label, the rest of the fashion world has landed on Planet Mugler.
Mugler’s PVC-clad intergalactic dominatrixes, who first invaded the runways in the mid-’80s, re-entered the fashion stratosphere at the spring shows. There they were at Balenciaga, where robo-babe metallic leggings brought to mind Mugler’s cyber-couture from the early ’90s; at Dolce & Gabbana, where dresses that appeared to have been made from space junk bore a striking similarity to Mugler’s signature hardware; and at Alexander McQueen, where frothy chiffon confections fit for a prom on Saturn were clones of Mugler’s jellyfish gowns at his farewell couture show in 2000.
Not that Mugler is bitter that the collections of some of the world’s leading designers resembled his brand of otherworldly, hard-edged glamour. “I feel validated,” he says. “I used to be accused of not liking women, but in truth I invented a very efficient silhouette, a body-conscious look that was both modern and very flattering.” He adds with a smile, “It didn’t hurt that my women looked like they had sex.”
Although he no longer maintains a design studio, Mugler is laughing all the way to the banque. Angel, his first fragrance, released in 1992, is one of the most popular in the United States and Europe, occasionally even outselling Chanel No. 5 in France. (Last year he brought out another successful perfume, called — naturally — Alien.)
These days, Mugler, who created the characters and costumes for “Zumanity” (the adult-themed Cirque du Soleil show), looks more like a circus strongman than the churlish club denizen of old. But he has not lost his youthful enthusiasm and plans to conquer ever-new frontiers. He is working on a capsule couture collection, which will be sold exclusively at his own boutique in Paris, opening this fall. Also in the works is a touring fashion sextravaganza to rival his spectacles of the ’90s, and two burlesque revues — for the Crazy Horse club in Paris and its sister venue at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Expect plenty of telerobotic pasties in fashion’s future.
Patrice Stable
Emma Sjoberg in hard-core biker chic in ’92; a powersuited Iman in ’91.
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It's all about...Thierry Mugler