L’Of/ciel Style 39
WH AT: THIERRY MUGLER COUTURISSIME
WHERE: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
WHEN: Until 8th September 2019
WHY: Thierry Mugler, the designer—or Manfred, as he now prefers to be known—is
having a bit of a resurgence lately, having designed his first original piece in 20 years
for Kim Kardashian West’s recent Met Gala appearance; and shortly before that, Cardi
B rocked up to the Grammy’s as Venus in one of his archival pieces. All this renewed
excitement is drawing big buzz to Mugler’s first ever exhibition at the Montreal Museum
of Fine Arts—just don’t call it a retrospective. Instead, the show—curated by Thierry-
Maxime Loriot along with Nathalie Bondil, Director of MMFA in collaboration with
Mugler himself—is conceptualised as a singular universe of brilliant ideas, illustrated
with over 150 Mugler designs across the realms of haute couture and theatre, and
supported by a plethora of accessories, photographs, videos and never-before- seen
sketches.For a designer who’s been wowing since 1974, it is shocking that it has taken this long
for Mugler to be the subject of a museum show. After all, this is the man who practically
invented the modern-day fashion-show-as-spectacle as we know it, populating his
runways with fantastical creations worn by otherworldly Amazonians. In his hands,
women transform into fembots in chrome and Plexiglass—made in collaboration with
aircraft bodywork specialists—or birds, insects and underwater creatures festooned
in feathers, scales, sequins and wings. They become machine-powered superhumans;
who could forget the motorcycle corset immortalised in George Michael’s Too Funky?
Playing a supporting role in the exhibition but no less powerful are the photographs
taken by fashion legends such as Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Richard Avedon, Herb
PHOTOGRAPHY Ritts and Jean Paul Goude.ALAN STRUTT; PATRICE STABLE; DOMINIQUEISSERMANN; MARIO TESTINO / MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS