The show's the thing at Mugler, the reborn label that's as much an entertainment as a design house, at least on its first few turns out of the gate. For its debut womenswear show in Paris in March, creative director Nicola Formichetti got Gaga to tread the boards, smoke a cigarette, and generally be a perfect media opportunity. But where seasonal shows are a fine venue for theatrics, Resort collections are about sales. And though orders from Fall have been strong, label reps report (and Gaga famously bought in bulk), the task this time around was to translate the runway riot into wearable and desirable clothes.
Designer Sébastien Peigné, who runs Mugler's womenswear day-to-day with input from Formichetti, tapped into nature and botany for his first Resort collection. "Nature can be very graphic," he explained, gesturing at the oversize photos of palm fronds that provided inspiration. "You find elements that are very anatomical." The anatomy fit the aesthetic, which was, as it was for Fall, stridently body-con. Cutouts traced the lines of the body, mirroring the arc of the rib cage and the dip of the pelvis. They had a creepy kind of chic, though you wondered if real women would gravitate toward skintight pants that swoop so perilously low. It was the subtlest among the offerings—point-shouldered blouses, lapel-less moto-style jackets, and gauzy day dresses—that seemed likeliest to stand on their own, spectacle or no. Here, Mugler had come back down to earth. And speaking of, no need to fear the towering platforms from Fall. They have given way to partly plastic, pointy pumps inspired, Peigné said, by birds' beaks.
