Hype, anticipating and rampant Internet buzz could have been detrimental to Nicola Formichetti’s first womenswear show for Mugler. In essence, there’s more pressure on the womenswear show because Thierry Mugler was ALL about emphasizing and empowering women with curvature drama. It won’t have fallen short for the legions of Lady Gaga fans watching it on live-stream, seeing as she made several appearances on the catwalk vamping her way about the wooden church arches erected on the stage. 

Gaga antics aside, with Formichetti’s expected assembly of specialist fashion design talents (Franc Fernandez and Nasir Mazhar’s hats, Atsuko Kudo’s latex etc), team Mugler of the 21st century turned out a collection that was faithful to Thierry Mugler’s anatomical interpretation of the woman’s body emphasizing and exaggerating curves where and where he can so that your fingers drew S shapes all over the body, which also swayed about as the models wore vertiginous platforms that required help from the security staff. Formichetti is fully open about the team effort that is going into Mugler’s reincarnation but as an orchestrator, he’s also been smart enough to put out all the stops on a show that deserves attention not just for a certain celebrity tour de force, but for the strength of a fine debut that will speak volumes in many a fashion editorial to come over the coming months.
 
Dazed Digital: What are your own personal memories of Thierry Mugler?
Nicola Formichetti: George Michael’s Too Funky video! My memories came from TV, pop culture and VH1 videos of course…
 
DD: What does it mean to you to reinvent Mugler under your name?
Nicola Formichetti: Pressure definitely! It’s not just one person’s collection – it’s a team but there’s still pressure.
 
DD: Can you tell us about the designers you worked with on this collection?
Nicola Formichetti: Yoshiko Creations from Japan made all the pearl stuff. Franc Fernandez and Nasir Mazar made all the fantastic hats. Rein Vollenger made all the sculptures in the garments. There are so many!
 
DD: How do you want people to remember your debut for Mugler womenswear?
Nicola Formichetti: An amazing party definitely!

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