Mugler FW24 Delivers Powerful Eveningwear in Three Acts
The line references Thierry Mugler’s eerie 1980s fashion, enlists a print collaboration from Canadian artist Ambera Wellmann and transforms leather for luxe party attire.
Emerging from behind massive red curtains and amidst dramatic smoke machines, Casey Cadwallader’s Mugler Fall/Winter 2024 collection arrived in three acts. The brand is known for its theatrics — for reference, that internet-breaking femot creation Zendaya wore to Dune 2’s London premiere was birthed on Thierry Mugler’s one-hour, 300-look Fall/Winter 1995 couture runway. Today, Cadwallader pays homage to the House’s larger-than-life persona, with archive-inspired ensembles and spectacle-making presentations.
This season, the designer’s first installment referenced Mugler’s 1980s collection, which cast a ghastly ambiance on form-flattering eveningwear, with often supernatural proportions. “I had a sporty flair in my clothes for many years at the beginning of [my time at] Mugler,” Cadwallader told Vogue. “Now I really want a more glamorous, dressed-up, decadent, textural creation.” Here, the fashioner’s interpretations include sheer dresses with strong corsetry layers, fringe gowns that move with satisfying, restrictive cadences, and skin-tight and skin-revealing leather.
The second act welcomed a print collaboration with Ambera Wellmann, a Canadian painter whose work depicts human bodies in between “play and violence, movement and dissolution.” Her works became the talking points of colorful dresses, graphic footwear, plunging tops, wrapped skirts and taut trousers. Her signature patterns found equilibrium in tandem with all-black staples: tailored dress trousers, collared bodysuits and more sheerness.
Cadwallader’s concluding act toyed with leather to produce a bounty of party-ready eveningwear. The fabric was cut into fine strips, which mingled with fringed fabric to create dancing mini dresses in red and black. In nappa iterations, leather composed puffed-up bomber jackets for menswear; and in patent forms, the textile laid the groundwork for shawls. In the finale, Mugler’s classic, curved gowns served as a reminder of the label’s timelessness in fashion’s highest circuit.
See Mugler’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection in the gallery above, and stay tuned to Hypebeast for more Paris Fashion Week coverage.
