H&M x Mugler Present First Look At Bodysuits & More, Thierry Mugler Was Involved
By Mikelle Leow, 23 Mar 2023
Mugler is cutting a figure in fast fashion, and shoppers all across the board will be here to shoulder it. Last month, H&M and the power-dressing brand of the late Manfred Thierry Mugler astounded fans when they announced they’d take the label’s body-positive designs to the high street.
The body-affirming collection, launching in participating stores and online on May 11, will comprise fits for both men and women and will be “merchandised all together,” Mugler’s creative director Casey Cadwallader tells Vogue—a testament to how he views gender.
And you now get to catch a glimpse of these accessible, architectural numbers in an artsy music video directed by full service creative studio TORSO.SOLUTIONS, with musicians Arca, Shygirl, Amaarae, and Eartheater rocking the pieces.
A re-record of Stardust’s Music Sounds Better With You soundtracks this film to transport audiences back to Thierry Mugler’s time, Cadwallader asserts.
In a press release, H&M teases that the high-profile collab captures “the very essence of Mugler.” In fact, the retailer began discussing having a rendezvous with the high-fashion brand before Thierry Mugler’s passing in January last year.
“The house of Mugler has always been a trailblazer, a rule-breaker: a champion of freedom of expression, high glamor and daringly irrepressible style,” H&M adds. With more pocket-friendly prices to expect, the partnership will finally give fans that same taste of exhilaration through unmistakable strong shoulders and defined waists, notable features in the H&M line too.
An all-in-one-roof array of Mugler’s defining looks, the Mugler H&M range will include tailored designs, embellished garments, dressy separates, and even the iconic spiral, nude-illusion jeans.
Not to be missed as well are reworkings of archival Mugler outfits from the 80s and 90s. Oh, and catsuits too, as H&M had insisted those were required.
The lineup is helmed by Cadwallader, who was appointed Mugler’s creative director in 2018 and helped redefine the brand with spiral-cut denim and illusion bodysuits.
“The collection unites the house’s history with its present and future, offering various Mugler classics and signatures,” explains H&M. The collection is a dynamic showcase of the Mugler world today, and the intriguing ways that Cadwallader has twisted and reinvented the House to make it fresh and relevant for a new generation.”
“We are proud to celebrate the legacy of Manfred Thierry Mugler with this collection. We were all honored to get to know Manfred, and it feels very special that he was involved at the initial stages together with Casey and the house of Mugler,” reflects Ann-Sofie Johansson, creative advisor at H&M.
“Casey has done such an incredible job at paying homage to history, and to the archive, while making the collection totally contemporary.”
Cadwallader chimes in that the collaboration is “authentic Mugler” and “a celebration of everything that defines Mugler as a house.”
[via Pause Magazine and Vogue, images via H&M]