The Strong Architecture of Thierry Mugler

We have just received a wonderful collection of Thierry Mugler 80s pieces at RARE vintage and what I find remarkable about the collection is their sense of Frank Gehry architecture - Mugler's designs wrapped a woman's body in torque and sensual curves.  Waists are defined, curves are exaggerated, there are points and seams sharply wrapping and defining jackets, collars, the hips of a dress...  

I will be posting more pieces over the next week but thought I would start with this electric blue mini dress with iconic Mugler exaggerated shoulders, blues snaps, a nipped in waist and a slight curve to the skirt...

JUST IN...

love, kisses and be strong, be beautiful in Mugler, Juliana

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing you all a Happy Mother's Day!  I plan to take full advantage of the day and I hope you do too whether you are celebrating your own mother and/or are a mother yourself.  

But I thought I would leave you with this mother/daughter story that was recently featured on Into The Gloss.  The great Jerry Hall and her beautiful daughter Georgia May Jagger...

Jerry Hall is wearing vintage Thierry Mugler, I am assuming pulled from her own closet - who said you can't revisit your own vintage??  I think you most certainly can!

Georgia: She doesn't do plastic surgery or chemical peels or things like that, so she can spurge on expensive creams.

Jerry: I think those things ruin your skin and open it up and let microbes get in.  Aging is great - you just don't give a shit anymore; it's nice.  That's a bonus.

You can read the full article here.

Tailleur by Thierry Mugler

Haute Couture is composed of two ateliers: one devoted to flou (dressmaking) and one to tailleur (tailoring).  

Thierry Mugler is a master of the tailleur.  His dramatic futuristic jackets made women look like super sexy, super heroine, femme fatales, were perfectly draped and cut.   Despite a certain amount of I am Woman, Hear Me Roar caricature to Mugler's designs there is a crisp precision to all of his clothes.  

Thierry Mugler suit.  Collection Met Museum.

They may be softened by a peplum 

1989 Mugler suit from RARE vintage.  Sold.

like the sequin edged scalloped peplum on this 1989 jacket that we had at RARE vintage awhile back.

The fit was irresistible to women and they flocked to Mugler's suits.

Thierry Mugler suit photographed by Helmut Newton 

and the same suit which we presently have at RARE Vintage for all of you Mugler/Helmut Newton vixens...

Mugler suit.  Available at RARE vintage.

Detail

A Mugler suit in a Neiman Marcus catalog back in the day

and a modern day Mugler muse.  So cool don't you think?!  I love this look!

Here is a new, crazy beautiful Mugler jacket in an amazing pearl colored silk organza with a wave detail collar and waist cinched by a signature Mugler silver belt buckle (belt is signed Thierry Mugler) at RARE vintage.  I'm thinking how incredible this jacket would look with a pair of high lace up boots...

Mugler pearl organza jacket.  Available at RARE vintage

Detail

Thinking About Peplum Jackets

So as I was on the plane yesterday on the way to Jamaica and looking at the January issue of Vogue, I came across an article on peplum jackets called Dare to Flare.  I adore a peplum - really just about anything with any kind of flounce.  I loved the peplum that Miuccia Prada did a few seasons back.  It was sold on its own - just a lace peplum and you could add it to any outfit you fancied pepluming.  (Spell check is not loving that word!)

So the peplum is back.  Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Cristopher Kane and of course Raf Simon's technocolor peplum last season for Jil Sander - which is probably what really had everyone chasing the peplum hem this season.  

Pretty in peplum.  Raf Simons for Jil Sander Spring 2011.

Photo from Style.com

But one of the original masters of nip, tuck and peplum was Thierry Mugler. His futurarama power babes suits were the thing to wear in the 80s.  So I was thrilled when I found these two really wonderful examples for RARE vintage.  They are both very couture - not the usual Thierry Mugler suit you see in your usual vintage store.  The first is in a thin lightweight wool with a wave detail in silk on the jacket and on the skirt.  The jacket has a very fitted waist, sharp shoulders and a slight peplum. 

Our second Thierry Mugler ensemble also has a wave detail edged with teeny tiny black sequins along the collar, the bell sleeve, and on the seriously amazing peplum.

Crazy gorgeous right?!  Okay, now, I am in Jamaica.  Time to head down to the beach, lie in the sun (covered in sunblock, vintage scarf for my highlighted hair from Babe Paley at Round Hill era, hat - hopefully I will go back to New York with at least a glow!) and to day dream  about peplums...

PURCHASE

INQUIRY

A Whiter Shade of Pale

And the mirror told its tale... 

  

her face, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, 'There is no reason
and the truth is plain to see.'

But I wandered through my playing cards
and would not let her be
one of sixteen vestal virgins
who were leaving for the coast
and although my eyes were open
they might have just as well've been closed...

  Procol Harum 'A Whiter Shade of Pale'

Thierry Mugler on the edge of a fairy tale spins a story of Beauty, she is who you want to be, summer is fleeting...  beauty will always be missed.  She falls in love with a bit of mystery - a cotton piqué dress in a forest of dreams... 

 Thierry Mugler Cotton Dress. Size 2.

PURCHASE

INQUIRY

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Is it a superhero?  No, but it may be the return of our favorite super designer, Thierry Mugler. Well, sort of.  Although he recently designed the costumes for Beyoncé's world tour "I Am...", it is Rosemary Rodriquez who has been designing capsule collections of womenswear for the Thierry Mugler label. Last week she showed new and archived pieces in Moscow.  Now, being shoppers extraordinaire at RARE vintage, we are ever hopeful for new pieces brilliantly designed but when it comes to archive pieces, we want the real thing.  We will hunt down the real thing - whether it is Halston, Ossie Clark, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, if it kills us (not really but it can get very dramatic and be quite the epic).

So, from the RARE vintage archive of couture is this black velvet Thierry Mugler Couture dress. It has strong shoulders, a fitted but not tight bodice and a red stripe running down the front of the skirt.  It is cut slightly higher in the front so you can see the red lining the skirt of the dress. It is elegant and sexy - which is such a trademark of Mugler's work.  We could even have seen Miss Fierce, Miss Sasha Fierce, dancing the night away in this!

1980s black velvet and matte silk dress with red detail.  Size 6.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

A Thierry Mugler Dress

This dress is very elegant a la Mugler. It is a dress for a work cocktail party when you want to get noticed. When you want to attract attention but not the wrong kind of attention. It is good girl/bad girl which is always an element to Mugler dresses. It is Real Housewives but in a really good way.

It is in a pale oyster color with a very flattering cut-out detail (another favorite design element of Thierry Mugler) with a hammered matte gilt jewel piece anchoring the dress together.

1990s Thierry Mugler pale oyster colored dress. Size 4/6.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

The Iconoclast

Not many designers have attempted to incorporate polychrome handlebars and side view mirrors into their fashion designs. But when Thierry Mugler took the bustier full throttle into 1992, George Michael noticed. The motorcycle bustier may have been Too Funky for most women to have attempted but Thierry Mugler's suits were very wearable. They were also powerful, glamorous, sexy and extremely well cut.

The center of this early 1990s suit has a cartoon-y effect in the starburst velvet detail. You almost expect to see POW! instead of a sweet velvet bow. There is a slight dip up on the skirt where the velvet bow sits off center. Women may not wear suits now as regularly as they were worn in the early 1990s but sometimes you just need and want to look polished, confident and, oh yes, very sexy. Not to mention a little naughty!

Early 1990s Thierry Mugler suit with velvet detail and bows. Size 4.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

Thrice as Nice!

Tomorrow we will start posting some amazing new pieces but tonight we would like to share with you another image of Rachel Weisz from The Toronto Film Festival in a 1980s Thierry Mugler strapless jumpsuit with patent leather belt. Unfortunately, in this photo we only see the top but it is incredibly sexy! No one cuts a jumpsuit to mold to a woman's body like Thierry Mugler.

Rachel Weisz in a 1980s Thierry Mugler black strapless jumpsuit.

Super Power

For those of us who lived through 80s the thought that the any of the fashion could possibly return, well, one memory of the hair would be enough to give us a fright and send us out for an immediate blow dry.  But time has been kinder to the fashion of the period and 80s inspired pieces were all over the fall/winter runways.  

Thierry Mugler's extreme fashion designs were always very wearable and this electric blue jumpsuit with its aggressive and curved belt buckle that wraps around the waist is no exception.  The sculpted collar peels away some of the hardness with its gentle  outward drape. Nicholas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga has been exploring futurism but we don't recall seeing a jumpsuit yet...  This is a great wearable and collectible piece.  

Early 1990s Thierry Mugler electric blue jumpsuit with curved belt buckle.  Labeled Thierry Mugler.  Size 38.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

Cocktail Dress for an Angel

Some of you may have seen Naomi Watts at the Costume Institute Gala wearing a white crystal pleated Thierry Mugler gown inspired by an archive piece. She is the new face for the Angel fragrance and looked very glamorous.

Here is the actual archive piece! RARE vintage has the Marilyn Monroe-style cocktail version which means it is a great wearable piece and is perfect for all sorts of summer parties and weddings. It is also dead stock which does not necessarily get us at RARE vintage so excited - we like to think about all of the fun, wonderful evenings our dresses have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy. But if you get excited by dead stock, here it is. The dress is beautifully made with couture like details. And if you have ever pondered piercing, this dress comes with its own piercing inspired detail! The original price was $4070 in the early 1990s!! Now that price is not so out of the ordinary but back then it was a pretty penny. But a good investment! Size 38 (US 4/6).

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

A Lighter Shade of Pale

This dress is more the dominatrix gets tamed then it fetish and fantasy. No chains, no pvc, no "motorcycle" bustier in this pale lilac Thierry Mugler gown. Just a very pretty, precisely tailored dress with a curved silhouette and a sculpted cut in the top of the dress. Shows a nice amount of leg as well. Size 4/6.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273

You Have Been a Bad Girl!

Or if you would like to be a bad girl you will want to wear vintage Thierry Mugler.

Although his style is very strict, the cut of Mugler's dresses and suits are all about a woman's body. It is not the super tight fit of an Azzedine Alaia or Herve Leger but the cut is extremely body conscious, very sexy and the attitude is more of a woman then a girl. You will feel like Demi Moore getting Ashton Kutcher! But back to our 1980s Mugler dress. It is sharp and elegant in black, emphasizes the body and has a metal chain that simply and dramatically cuts through the dress above the bust. Size 6.

For more information about this item please call 212 581-7273 0r email info@rarevintageinc.com