Heaven Scent

When Thierry Mugler launched Angel in 1992, the iconic fragrance broke all the rules. Thirty years later, an updated formula arrives for a new generation.

- JOSÉ CRIALES-UNZUETA

On a rainy November night last fall, the Brooklyn Museum celebrated the American opening of “Thierry Mugler: Couturissime,” the first retrospective to celebrate the idiosyncratic world of the late French couturier. Marc Jacobs posed with Laverne Cox, Mugler muses Stella Ellis and Connie Fleming paraded the exhibition halls, and Casey Cadwallader—the house’s current creative director—escorted Kylie Jenner, who wore a waist-snatching corseted black gown from Mugler’s fall 1995 couture collection. A familiar smell wafted through the crowd, growing stronger as you approached the center of the exhibition, where the designer’s olfactory achievements, most notably his 1992 triumph, Angel, were on view: Even encased in glass, the iconic—and polarizing—eau de parfum that forever changed the fragrance world made itself known.