Paris and Antwerp — My couture week started with synchronicity, so it’s only fitting that it ends with synchronicity. Thierry Mugler and Azzedine Alaïa’s Maisons weren’t strictly part of the couture schedule, but their presentation was the climax of the week. Before his incarnation as Manfred, Thierry was so supportive of his friend Azzedine that he was credited with his success. Their standard bearers at death are Casey Cadwallader of Mugler and Pieter Mulier of Alaïa. I don’t know if they’ve ever met, but this season both designers are not only keenly aware of the legacies they’ve inherited, but they’re also bringing those legacies to life in a vibrant, engaging way for audiences. We have shown that we are well up to the challenge of turning it into a relevant time and place away from OG.
Cadwallader is the fifth person to take over the Mugler brand. He had only met Manfred a few times before his death a year before him, but they got along well enough that a pile of formidable dudes roared. There was nothing about Thursday night’s show to suggest that Manfred’s judgment was wrong: “We appreciate the same a lot,” he says, Cadwallader. “Movement, different expressions of gender, extreme shifts. Manfred turned people into characters, but the big difference for me is that I made a supersonic version of myself. What that means is different now: People dress to make themselves feel hot, not to turn men’s heads on.
There was an orgy of both naked and curvy, but Cadwallader talked about “bringing two dynamics together” in this collection. Hard edge on one side, romance on the other. Encounter with biker leather and black lace. “I’ve always had an aversion to race, but what you have an aversion to is something you have to try. It has become a decisive factor in his quest for a more voluminous and draped look. I want women with buttocks and hips to wear clothes that can be worn.” Please move together according to your body shape. “
Cadwallader destroyed the internet with his videos during lockdown. Thursday night he chose his La Villette for his first physical show in three years. It’s a huge venue familiar to anyone who’s ever trekked to the Parisian suburbs in search of Gaultier, Galliano and McQueen. He said he invited many children from the city. “I want people to yell and yell. I don’t want a stone cold face. I want a little drama.” A proper knockdown his dragout spectacle in the grand tradition of Mugler, but updated with techno for darker times. Models were swarming to one side of the arena, riding a dolly back to the other side, posing ferociously while cameras tracked them from all angles (the “butt camera” is an important part of the rig ). A giant screen behind the arena relayed the results.
The audience became part of the performance, just as Cadwallader had hoped. In the front row was real housewife Lisa Rinna.When I was a late-night talk show sensation and Mugler model
Fudodo broke the fourth wall and came looking for her of Best moments from last week. A tall pony flogging with cockiness, savagery and mocking fury. We crave it at the forefront of pop culture.or PauseDominic Jackson passes by as a blond Spider-Woman in a lace bodice and black corset. Or Arca doing Arka, Omahira doing Omahira, before Slam Dunk, Amber, Shalom, Eva Herzigova, Kadwallader who acknowledges the power of legends, Thierry on stage with Jerry Hall, Julie Newmar, Tippi Hedren Like I brought you. Yes, it was camp, but it’s also the naked power of fashion that creates memories and keeps them forever. In other words, a kind of blasphemous church.
Mugler gained strength.So was As
Edin Alaia. The exaltation of his unparalleled feminine figure caused ecstasy in his followers and posed a serious challenge to anyone daring to step into his shoes. We came up with a bold solution. He displayed his new collection in his own apartment on the 21st floor of the Riverside Tower, a brutal architectural landmark in his hometown of Antwerp. Azzedine’s own meals in his own home were legendary, and from the meals he cooked for a select few to his presentations in authentic fashion, Murier continued the tradition. But he admitted that the show at his home opened something up for him. I felt like I could do more Azzuddin in my house than I could in his house.”
Analyzing this apparent paradox was not so difficult. As a personal person, Mulier felt comfortable in his own home sharing his new creations with a small group of his friends and industry professionals. He also talked about the general need for intimate connections, calming the noise of this confusing moment in history.The invitation was a handwritten letter from him personalized to each guest. The audience sat on his furniture, and some even sat downstairs on Mulier’s bed. And a soundtrack by his friends David and Stephen Dewaele (aka 2ManyDJs) set the tone with Jeff Buckley’s sweet moans.
And all of that freed Mulier to “execute” Azzedine. The first looks — sensationally shaped knitwear, rounded cuts, no front or back seams — inspired Alaïa’s curvy tailoring from the 1980s. Inspired by the image of the famous contemporary Jean-Baptiste Mondino, the pin-like bugle is detailed with his beads. Skates with flutes His skirt is also reminiscent of Alaïa’s classics, as is his black leather and silver lace bandage dress. Mullier captured the maestro’s fetishistic charm with leather harnesses and patent mac and pants cut from his leather netting. And… I call it Mushroom.Mulier prefers dark camel, or dirty green.Mulier will forever be Azzedine for me.
The 21st floor of the Riverside Tower is molded in concrete befitting brutalism, so two “concrete” dresses in stony jacquard felt like Murier acknowledging his home. And the finale of her full taffeta skirt with a turtleneck whispered her look for a modern evening she explored as Rough Simmons’ right hand man at Dior. In other words, as successful as his new collection is, Mulier promises that he will be more than a medium for Alaïa. Aftershow at his dinner in the Rubens Room of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Antwerp, the shackles of 11 years of renovation work were finally thrown off, underscoring the promise subtly. Old Master Peter Paul Her Rubens, but also James Her Ensor-like peculiar geniuses hang on the walls, recalling the very particular cultural heritage that Murier is imbued with. Compatibility with Alaia is also excellent.
