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Theirry Mugler

 About thirty years ago I was wandering through the women's section of the local thrift (This was an old fashioned completely un-curated thrift sore, not a glitzy consignment store, or a  coolvintage store but a dusty, slightly smelly thrift store). Amid the ugly polyester dresses I found this:

A black wool dress with massive shoulder pads, lots of snaps and a sweep of a ruffle at the front wrap. It was fabulous--- and it was my size. I bought the dress for either $25 or $28. I had never heard of the designer before.  The dress felt terrific on. I felt like a sexy spacewoman in the dress or the general of an artsy army. Not only did the dress feel great on, it looked good on me.  For years, I wore this dress often.


Once the internet entered our home I started researching the designer, Theirry Mugler. This is what Wikipedia has to say I was delighted to see the prices that vintage Theirry Mugler garments reached at auctions. This is a current Etsy listing for my dress.The photo above comes from that listing.

Anyway, as much as I loved the dress fashion had changed and aggressive shoulder pads were no longer a way for women to express power and I had put on weight and it no longer fit. The dress has been sitting in the back of my closet unworn for the past twenty or so years.


Two of my dear friends and I have been going to fashion exhibits together. We took too long to reserve tickets to last winter's Dior Exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum and weren't able to reserve tickets. So when we found out that this winter's fashion exhibit at the Brooklyn would be Thierry Mugler we jumped to book tickets.


We went on Sunday. Because I had gotten Covid I hadn't been out of the house for two and a half weeks. I hadn't worn shoes for two and a half weeks.  The exhibit was my first venture out of the house. I had mentioned to my friends that I owned a Mugler dress. They urged me to wear it. I was pretty sure that it no longer fit. But with the urging of my friends, I tried it on---and it fit so I wore it.

I lightened the photo so you can see the great diagonal ruffle.


Here I am at the beginning of the exhibit

 
I had figured before I went to the exhibit that it would highlight the more dramatic pieces that Mugler had designed.  I wasn't wrong.





























Some of those garments were designed for stage wear.


My dress fit into his Net- a -Porter line.  They were dresses and suits that a regular woman could wear.















So many of the garments in the exhibit were made out of  exactly the same flat black wool as my dress.  It was difficult to tell what year a garment was made. The designer had figured out a silhouette, and stuck with it.








At one point, I saw three young women all wearing vintage Theirry Mugler  evening dresses. They worked for a vintage store and had borrowed the dresses to  Instagram themselves. They noticed my dress and said " Oooh!, that's a good one".















This suit looks like it is made out of rubber tires but it is made out of leather appliqued with rubber. It is part of a car themed series of garments.


Theirry Mugler was a performer who loved making stage wear and clothing for performers. Along the way he also made clothes for regular women with a bit of flair.

As the three of us talked about the experience of seeing the exhibit I think we all enjoyed being together and taking in the exhibit. For all of the flash and sparkle it  actually wasn't an especially interesting fashion exhibit

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