The great French couturier Thierry Mugler died on Sunday January 23 at the age of 73. Since September, he has been featured in a magnificent exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Visible until April 24, 2022, it retraces the entire journey of the creator, with a singular imagination.
The visionary artist had marked his era by revolutionizing the world of ready-to-wear and haute couture, with his sense of staging spectacular fashion shows, and his iconic models.
Passionate about all expressions of femininity, he had also distinguished himself in the field of perfumery with Angel, one of the best-selling fragrances in the world. Without forgetting his activities as a photographer and designer of scenic costumes, imagined in particular for Macbeth.
Silhouettes, accessories, photographs, sketches…
It is all these facets that the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris has been honoring since the start of the school year through a dazzling retrospective, which is transformed into a final tribute.
Designed and roaming by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), this exhibition, which unfolds on two levels, mixes silhouettes, fashion accessories, photographs, videos, sketches, and other unpublished archives, dated 1973 to 2014.
During the visit, pieces from its most mythical collections parade before our eyes, such as “Les Insectes” or “La Chimère”.
©C.Ronchin/CNEWS
a spectacular sheath-bustier
In particular, one can admire the smallest details of her spectacular sheath-bustier adorned with butterfly wings, but also her articulated mythological “creature” endowed with scales, crystals, fancy diamonds, feathers and horsehair. A masterpiece that required thousands of hours of work.
©Alan Strutt
Further on, another room celebrates the artist’s futuristic imagination, with his Maschinenmensch, a fully articulated robotic breastplate, or the iconic ensemble worn by Lady Gaga in her “Paparazzi” clip.
Thierry Mugler had indeed dressed many music stars, including David Bowie, Beyoncé, or Cardi B.
©C.Ronchin/CNEWS
This retrospective also offers the opportunity to discover many shots of Thierry Mugler who, in the 1970s, had embarked on shooting his own visual campaigns, immortalizing his muses in extreme locations, from Greenland to the Sahara, even on the roofs of the Paris Opera.
©C.Ronchin/CNEWS
Thierry Mugler, Couturissime, until April 24, 2022, Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris (Paris 1er).