Thierry Mugler Retrospective in Montreal

If you’ve ever stepped foot inside a duty-free shop anywhere in the world, you’ve certainly noticed the fragrance Angel, by Thierry Mugler. The striking bottle shape and distinctive packaging usually stands out among the many perfume brands on the shelf. The well-known French fashion designer was at the pinnacle of his career in the late 1980s and was a fixture on the nightlife scene from Paris to New York. Behind closed doors it was whispered that his style had a signature look bordering on S & M. True enough; his designs represented a time when shoulder pads ruled, and the heel of a woman’s show was never high enough.

The Unveiling

In March 2019 the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) will unveil the first ever exhibition of the work of Thierry Mugler—visionary couturier, director, photographer and perfumer. The exposition will bring together more than 140 ensembles created between 1973 and 2001, many never shown before, as well as never-before-seen accessories and stage costumes, clips and videos, archival documents and sketches.

The retrospective will reveal the multiple universes of “Thierry” as he was known to his friends, especially his ready-to-wear and haute couture creations with morphological and futuristic cuts. He was famous for glamorous, sculptural and elegant silhouettes with super-heroine shoulders and often a corseted waist that depicted a sensual and powerful woman in constant metamorphosis.

Monsieur Mugler’s fashion shows staged all over the world, were epic. He created the costumes for the staging of Shakespeare’s Macbeth by the Comédie Française and the Festival d’Avignon, and the Zumanity show by Cirque du Soleil. He has dressed countless celebrities, such as Diana Ross, David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Liza Minelli and Céline Dion. He has also created costumes for Beyoncé and French chanteuse Mylène Farmer.

Additional Immersive Galleries

As a photographer and filmmaker, Mugler shot and directed the emblematic 1990s clip “Too Funky” by George Michael, as well as short films starring Isabelle Huppert and Juliette Binoche. Over the course of his career, he has had collaborations with filmmakers, architects such as Andrée Putman for his boutiques, and renowned photographers and artists, such as Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Herb Ritts, Peter Lindbergh, David LaChapelle and Pierre & Gilles. Many of these photos round out the exhibition.

Each of the immersive galleries has been designed with artist-designers or set designers and offers a dive into his singular imagination, to encounter by turns his perfectionism, Hollywood-style prestige, dreams, exotic creatures, eroticism, and science fiction. It will explain his audacious choices in the use of innovative materials in high fashion such as metal, fake fur, vinyl and latex.

“I have always been fascinated by the most beautiful animal on Earth: the human being,” says Mugler … “and have used all of the tools at my disposal to sublimate this creature. I am not a person who dwells in the past, but the MMFA was the first to propose to me to stage my creations and imagine together a free, global and reinvented artistic vision. How could I refuse?”