The revolving door is swinging faster than ever and the rumor mill churns at warp speed. Talk about who’s in where and who’s out there has replaced conversations about actual fashion. Still, the emergence of an unknown name is rare. An unknown with fresh ideas and talent to match even rarer. Casey Cadwallader, the 38-year-old American installed as creative director at Mugler in January, looks like just such a designer.
Cadwallader has worked behind the scenes for years: as a leather and fur specialist at Loewe, in Narciso Rodriguez’s New York atelier, and most recently at Acne Studios. And he’s brought that high/low, elegant/everyday sensitivity to his work at Mugler. That’s a departure for the label, which was helmed for the last several years by David Koma, whose focus was on the more performative aspect of the house heritage. Every outfit was an event—or at least required an event in which to wear it. Cadwallader, in contrast, has devoted a fair proportion of the 25 looks in this capsule debut to denim. Not your typical Acne boyfriend jeans, but an elaborately patterned style with pronounced hips and seams that twist around the legs. Mugler’s sculptural tailoring, meanwhile, comes two ways, in a men’s wool twill jacket pulled from the archives and cinched at the back and sides with corset strings, or with the curvy architectonics built in. Sexy hourglass dresses, another brand signature, are tastefully and sparely done; in that way they’re reminiscent of Cadwallader’s mentor Rodriguez.
Where he did venture off Mugler script, Cadwallader was experimental and adventurous, hooking up with the artist Samara Scott on a group of plastic trenches that bring to life her “slippery” canvases. Wedged between layers of PVC are random things like cumin, toothpaste, and even chewed gum, the colorful, blurry results of which are more enchanting than that description sounds.
Cadwallader is backing all this newness up with a Instagram campaign showcasing the women who inspire and influence him. That’s predictable enough, but photographer Arnaud Lejeunie’s subjects are not the usual millennial suspects. Instead, Cadwallader has enlisted women like Debra Shaw, who walked Mugler’s runways back in the day; the French Olympic swimmer Anna Santamas; and the transgender DJ Dustin Muchavitz. Mugler’s Cadwallader era is going to be interesting to watch.
