French fashion designer Thierry Mugler died on Sunday. The 73-year-old died of “natural causes,” his spokesman told the AFP news agency on Monday night. His death was previously announced on the Facebook page of the designer, who dominated the Paris fashion world in the 1980s. According to the spokesman, Mugler’s passing was unexpected: he wanted to announce new collaborations earlier this week.
Thierry Mugler was born in Strasbourg in December 1948. His family originally came from Linz and had moved to Alsace during the post-war turmoil. At the age of 14 he was accepted into the ballet corps of the Opéra du Rhin and then attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in the Alsatian capital. Even back then, he was already tailoring his first designs from items of clothing from the flea market.
“Café de Paris”, in “Thierry Mugler”
At the age of 20 he came to Paris and worked for various fashion houses in Paris, London and Milan. In 1973 he founded his own label “Café de Paris” before founding the company “Thierry Mugler” a year later. His structured and sophisticated designs quickly became well known. Top models from Jerry Hall to Kim Kardashian followed the “Mugler woman” look, with her padded shoulders, plunging necklines, and corset-like waists.
Big productions
Mugler was also a pioneer in staging large-scale fashion shows in front of thousands of spectators. Mugler controlled everything from the props to the soundtrack. Later he started creating perfume. His first perfume for women, “Angel”, launched in 1992, was a great success and even challenged Chanel’s legendary N°5 for first place in the sales charts. In 1997, the cosmetics group Clarins took over the trademark rights.
Mugler retired from the fashion world in 2002 – but icons such as Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Cardi B and Kim Kardashian still wear his creations on special occasions. Mugler also made his transformation in his own body by engaging in intense bodybuilding and undergoing numerous cosmetic surgeries. At the same time he devoted himself to meditation and yoga and from then on called himself “Manfred T. Mugler”.
In 2013, Mugler shook up the cabaret scene in Paris and Berlin with his own musical shows. The stars of the eccentric shows were dancers, ventriloquists, singers and acrobats. Mugler was also a writer. There is currently a large exhibition on his fashion productions in Paris.
