The Many Faces of Mugler

The debut of Mugler women’s, by new creative director Nicola Formichetti, is among the first on the Paris Fashion Week schedule this season. The Wednesday show will air simultaneously “through a real-time, uncensored, multi-camera live stream.” And like the men’s collection in January, Lady Gaga will act as the musical director and provide a new track for it.

All of that can be found in a press release. Here’s what you may not know. While it had many standouts, the men’s debut in January was not especially well-received. That has the fashion set worried that an identity crisis might be brewing at the label, compounded by the fact that there are two designers under Nicola—Sébastien Peigné (women’s), formerly of Balenciaga, and Romain Kremer (men’s).

So here’s the consensus: while everyone likes Nicola’s enthusiasm and agrees his ideas are solid, a sense of confusion seems to be emerging. For example, the collection was supposed to take place on the 3rd, but as Lady Gaga will attempt to make an appearance and she’s only available the day before, the show was moved at the last minute to the 2nd, off the official calendar, which is a little bizarre, given all the anticipation surrounding the revival.

Also, the idea of showing pieces on Lady Gaga first, including what Nicola thinks will be an It bag (the Gaga), apparently isn’t going as smoothly as hoped. It’s not clear she is who the Mugler customer wants to look like. Gaga as muse, definitely. As model, maybe not.

And there is one more face in the mix. We hear that Thierry Mugler himself is preparing a comeback. How and when, we don’t know—yet.

At any rate, hopes are high for the collection on Wednesday. Here’s a teaser video, released today. Perhaps the sexy alien vibe is a clue as to what will come down the runway…

Leave a comment