Thierry Mugler

Thierry Mugler was interested in fashion as a child

Thierry Mugler was born in Strasburg on 21 December 1948. The son of a Linz doctor who had moved to Alsace in the turmoil of the Second World War, he felt constrained and constricted as a child. His desire for more freedom and self-realisation led him to the Opéra national du Rhin where he completed an apprenticeship as a ballet dancer at the age of 14. He was also very interested in fashion and thus studied costume design at the École supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (today Haute école des arts du Rhin). From early on, Thierry Mugler designed clothing in his spare time and his designs were offered in fashionable London shops in the 1960s including Tommy Roberts (1942-2012) and Trevor Myles’ boutique Mr. Freedom whose clients included stars such as Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) and Didi Kempot (1966-2020). At the age of 24, Mugler moved to Paris where he shared an apartment with Claude Montana (born 1949) in the early 1970s. 

Mugler’s trademark: extravagant, eccentric and elegant

Thierry Mugler designed his first collection under the name Café de Paris in 1974 and the following year he went on to open his own fashion business which quickly established itself on the scene – thanks in part to the influential fashion director Melka Tréanton who mediated contact with the Japanese cosmetic company Shiseido. In 1978, Mugler opened his fist boutique in Paris on the Place des Victories, and in 1979, David Bowie (1947-2016), Klaus Nomi (1944-1983) and Joey Arias (born 1949) wore costumes by Mugler on a television appearance, thereby contributing to his fame. The costumes of the Valkyries from Richard Wagner’s (1813-1883) Ring of the Nibelung inspired Mugler’s sensational designs of the 1980s, reminiscent of suits of armour. The dramatic, gimmicky designs with exorbitantly wide shoulder pads and sometimes futuristic air, whilst also borrowing from the fashion of the 1930s and 1940s, would become Thierry Mugler’s trademark; in 1992, Demi Morre wore a Mugler costume in the film Indecent Proposal, a dress that would be celebrated as the most famous dress of the 1990s. 

Mugler created perfumes, wrote books and produced films

Thierry Mugler was an international star designer of the 1980s and 1990s, often mentioned in the same breath as his friends and colleagues Claude Montana and Azzedine Alaïa (1935-2017). Mugler began collaborating with the French cosmetic’s company Clarins in 1992, releasing the very successful fragrance Angel, among others, which for a time sold better than the famous Chanel No. 5. With the rise of minimalist fashion, Theirry Mugler’s extravagant designs lost their radiance, and the label was taken over by its partner Clarins. Mugler himself withdrew from fashion, but remained as artistic director of the perfume branch until 2013. Alongside his work as a designer, Mugler was also active as an author and film director with the music video Too Funky from the British singer George Michael (1963-2016), for example, and also performed his cabaret programme Mugler’s Follies in Paris. The revue The Wyld, performed in 2014 in Berlin’s Friedrichstsadt Palast was also from Mugler’s hand.

Theirry Mugler died in Vincennes on 23 January 2022.