ARTISAN REBEL

GENNADY ORESHKIN CELEBRATES THE ERA-DEFINING CONTRIBUTIONS TO FASHION AND ART OF MANFRED THIERRY MUGLER, WHO DIED JUST OVER A MONTH AGO

- GENNADY ORESHKIN

Although the word “icon” has been worn out by millennial girl bosses and TikTok citizens, one person who rightfully deserved the epithet was surely fashion’s original enfant terrible, Manfred Thierry Mugler. His death on January 22nd sent shivers down the spine of every fashionable and fashion-adjacent person globally: the world had lost another visionary – and with it a golden era succumbed to oblivion.

Descriptors such as “designer” or “creative director” don’t even begin to encompass Mugler’s contributions, not only to fashion but art at large. Born in Strasbourg in 1948, he was drawn to the arts and at the age of nine began training in classical dance, which subsequently led him to the ballet corps at the Opéra National du Rhin. During his time there, he enrolled in an interior design course at Strasbourg School of Decorative Arts and, after completing his formal training in the late1960s, started working as a freelance designer for London boutique Mr Freedom. Ten years later, the House of Mugler was born.

It’s impossible to separate the man himself from the House of Mugler – not just a fashion brand, but a powerful vehicle for pure artistic expression. The house was born in 1973 from a collection titled Café de Paris – the first public showcase of Mugler’s sharp 1940s-inspired silhouettes, which remained in the designer’s oeuvre until he left the brand in 2002.