Wednesday September 29, 2011 – Gymnase Japy
After last season’s much ballyhooed Mugler relaunch, thanks in no small part to its creative team of Nicola Formichetti, Lady Gaga, and Sebastien Peigne, this latest collection had some wondering if the house could continue to impress. A tough act to follow after Gaga’s performance, where she tore up the catwalk in a latex number while a bevy of sexy Mugler vixens strutted down a gothic archway-themed catwalk, all acting out their wilder sides to the chagrin of photographers and the audience. But where that show focused on putting Mugler back on the fashion map, this Spring 2012 collection sought to balance its unique art and fashion components. The result was nothing short of brilliant; by putting out truly unique and wearable pieces while keeping to the brand’s DNA of futuristic fashion, they have single handily assuaged any concern that the Mugler renaissance was only a one-trick pony.
Formichetti, the consummate creator of eye candy and sensory stimulation, whetted the critics’ appetites by showing an Inez van Lamsweerede and Vinoodh Matadin produced video of a bucktoothed, rainbow-dye pigtailed Lady Gaga repeating a series of sound bytes. “Don’t fuck with me, don’t fuck with Mugler” were just a few of the more colorful phrases overheard; perhaps a proverbial ‘wink’ to the few critics that couldn’t get past their own disillusionment about the pop star being absent from the event. Though her corporeal presence was lacking to some, her artistic bravado made up for it in spades, as a remix of “Black Jesus” gave the smokey set a pulsating, yet ominously ethereal feeling.
As the film cuts off, a platform of metallic lampshade lights descended from above. The emboldened Mugler models wafted out of the smoke, snaking down the runway in strapped, super-positioned, asymmetrical cut pieces. Beige and white neoprene looks mixed with green Swarovski crystals, either as choker detailing or as a pair of pants stood out not only for sheer aesthetics but in keeping to the brand codes. Forged from his years at Balenciaga, Sebastien’s deft hand at making complicated looks seem effortlessly sexy was demonstrated best through the trousers with waist-level oval cutouts, draped dresses with Mugler-esque metallic adornments and vertiginous nail-heel stilettos.
After the final phalanx of models bowed out in the glimmer of flashing lights, Formichetti and Peigne took to the runway, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, to humbly accept a vigorous applause; a sign that this artistic trio is not a team of one or the other. They are a unit whose collective creativity is greater than the sum of its parts and whose latest work has reassured the world that the Mugler woman is more fierce than ever before.
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