Casey Cadwallader is the new man at Mugler. After presenting his preseason collection informally, he was on the runway this morning with a significantly different kind of setup than his predecessor, David Koma, who favored big shows and big-time supermodels. Koma’s was a flashy Mugler—tilted to after-dark—that fit with the brash fabulosity of the house founder’s ’80s and ’90s heyday. Cadwallader seems interested in realigning the label to jibe more with how contemporary women lead their real, glamorous lives.
He shrunk the space, booked a cast of mostly unknowns, and sent out, for his first look, an oversize, seamed black blazer and matching biking shorts with mid-heel ankle boots in blazing white. It’s an up-from-the-streets outfit that suggests he’s paying attention to the boss athleticism with which celebrity influencers are dressing these days. That’s a good instinct. The runways have ceded impact to the streaming reality of social media. Not coincidentally, there’s a renewed taste among the fashion cognoscenti for strong tailoring, which could work in the Mugler brand’s favor, with its legacy of extreme suiting.
Another sign of Cadwallader’s with-it-ness was his denim, which was similarly seamed and had an interesting full-through-the-knees look. (The spiral-cut jeans were good in his preseason, too.) But it wasn’t as casual as all that sounds. Cadwallader did some time at Narciso Rodriguez, in addition to Loewe and Acne Studios, and he clearly picked up a thing or two there about streamlined, aerodynamic evening. Cadwallader achieved his hourglass shapes here with external corsets or internal engineering. Though there’s clearly an audience for those exposed corsets—again, something you learn on Instagram—the dresses with the internal construction were the bigger achievements. A marbled print number from the work of artist Samara Scott that featured an inset black demi-cup bra was particularly fetching. It’s early days, but Cadwallader is looking like a smart choice.