The Rise and Fall of Mugler 

Having known Manfred on a personal level, he was a big teddy bear. He had his demons, as we all do, but underneath he was a sweetheart. Still very much missed.

Thierry Mugler's the most creative designer. It is depressing for the industry and us that we got only a few collection from Mugler. Cardi B wearing Mugler archives for her first grammy. Kim K 's iconic met gala 2019 wet dress. These moments are going in fashion history books. Mugler was the most artistic person in the industry. PERIOD.

I am old enough to remember the rise but I have never seen the fall! Instead of adjusting to the new rules of fashion (which are mostly destructive, uncreative and unrealistic) he stopped at the very top! He never sold out, never produced trash and uninspired basics, never advertised with a cat, his looks, IT bags, or a cheaper line. He was authentic, creative and true to himself until the very end. A true hero of my generation.

I don’t know why Nicola’s work didn’t manage to revive the brand, in my opinion it’s miles better than what’s going on today. He understood glamour and drama better than the current designer, and I think a small, undeveloped spark of genius lives inside of him. I think the timing was just bad unfortunately.

The work you do and the research was impeccable. My jaw dropped at 11:10 seeing how majorly the design quality had fallen. Also your business analysis and marketing breakdown is better that what I was taught in my undergrad business classes. Love everything that you do! ❤️

I actually met him in the early 90s. He had a photographic exhibition at the Sofitel Melbourne. He was in full leather and his PA had a cinched leather dom look with Patsy Stones hair! I was in such awe all I could do was say hi.

Gaga and Bella both are such great muses for the brand, it’s something about the heavy make up telling us “I’m going to eat you up, chew you, and spit you”

i would love to see you talk about kate spade, the brand and the creator herself. it always broke my heart whenever i think about what happened. thank you so much for your videos

So Loreal showed Claire's their incompetent 😂

that retrofuturism of the first collections was impeccable!

Take it fromp someone who was there and knows the story details a little better first hand...by 1996 Manfred was NOT living in Paris..he was in New York and not designing for the line, he was occupied with the fragrance side of the business and left the line to young undiscovered designers. There was also some theft within the petty cash flow and in people's salaries...nothing to do with Clarins. The design team that had been left in charge of creating the 6 collections a year were rather affected by the image and kept designing garments for women wearing corsets, and by 1998 women DID NOT want to be cinched that tightly, Ready-to-Wear sales plummeted. horribly and that is what made the brand and kept the brand going, parfum was the cash cow that kept Couture collections and shows alive. After their fall the designers blamed Clarins, as you have expressed, but the design team did not adapt to the customers wants and needs...they just didn't go with the flow. After 2001 the brand was dead. Some guy bought the brand Men's license and his son designed, but quality of fabrics and fabrication was awful. Then when the relaunched the women's line it was just as bad. The designer didn't have the style nor the eye, and certainly not the knowledge of colors or fabric selection to make the brand prosper...so the brand went from bad to worse...I saw several friends try to work for the team around the brand that was only Mugler by then but the esthetic was dull and lackluster...no glamour or allure. In the late 90's Manfred Thierry Mugler would still send over some designs by fax or UPS...but for the 2010's he would appear up for a show and take the runway with the designer. Sadly his Follies Bergere cabaret was a rehashing of his old designs, nothing inventive or imaginative, like moving the same chess pieces on a checkerboard. What I have seen of this new designer does not impress me, I'd have to see the garments in person to know if the quality has returned in their fabrication and if they are investing in quality fabrics. I have pieces from my time designing with the team and some older pieces that are 20-40 years old and they all look better in 2023 than the crap that was sold in the 2000's and 2010's.

Very interesting video. But there's no mention of Mugler's personal lifestyle decisions, like changing his name to Manfred (look out for his freaky nude pics), taking massive amounts of steroids and drugs, and essentially living la vida S&M bathhouse full time. His mind was no longer in design, he was simply out to have a good time. His fashion house was left adrift. Contrast him to Lagerfeld, who was gave his all to fashion until the end. Mugler reminds me a bit of Halston, another designer whose personal issues ultimately damaged his fashion house.

The timing of the H&M collab is impressive, but the timing of this video is much more impressive I know bits and pieces about Mugler, but I wanted to know more ever since I saw the designs that are gonna be up for sale

As always, love the exploration of the business aspects of these brands.

Another great episode! I’m learning so much about fashion / design and busniess!! And I LOVE your other channel tooo! Always look forward to your uploads!! 🥰

This was absolutely spectacular!! Thank you for this. ❤❤

such a well made and insightful video! thank you 🙏🔥

Been hoping you'd do a video on mugler! Love this

Nothing but praise again for ur vid! U do an amazing job!

Great work! This fashion house is iconic

Always a pleasure when understitch uploads ❤

I have been waiting for this video thank you!

I really enjoyed the business snippets and infographics. It's not often you get to see the seams of a fashion house❤

That cool voice, that awesome writing, such a great channel 😍

I'm so excited for this one! Ever since you hinted about it in your Lagerfeld video. I adore Mugler's shows, always so creative and accompanied by a great soundtrack. I do wish however that the garments were more affordable, since I seem to want almost anything under Mugler. Won't be buying from their H&M collab, though it is a great way to get the Mugler look for less. Thanks again for this amazingly in depth episode. Have a great week everyone!

I watched an interview with model Emma S on Swedish morning TV some years ago where they talked about the metal "corset" she wore in the "Too Funky" (the same Lady Gaga wore in the "Paparazzi" video, and fitted quite well even though it wasn't molded onto her body like ot it had for Emma S). "Wasn't it painful to wear?" asked the TV host. "Oh, yes! I was bruised for weeks!" The things you go through, because you know the end result will make fashion history! Edited: as an armchair perfumer, what Mugler Parfums did was so clever, yet risky. They didn't let the fragrances go through panel group after panel group until the final composition was sort of appealing to most, and didn't offend anybody. The end result ends up being very generi. I heard Lancôme went through over 3000 tweaks with their "La Vie est Belle" perfume, which ended up smelling like a tamed-down "Angel". Mugler fragrances were polarizing "love them or hate them", and isn't that more interesting than smelling like your mother and in law or like a really nice fabric softener?

This was a cool video. Mugler was super creative and made one of a kind works of art!!! I saw his exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum and it was FANTASTIC ❤

Loved this!

The H&M collab was really smart. Great video!

Very insightful thx

Really well explained and researched. Loved the business aspects of the video. Are you working as a consultant by any chance?

Love it! Always think of Mugler as THE shape, so artistic and beautiful

Probably my favorite RU-vid presentation of all time!!! Power to Mugler!

Thank you ♥

Another great video. Your attention to detail is on another level.

The new films they amke and visuals are amazing! Loved the ARCA one so much! Loved her for so long

I bought many Catwalk books, but I love listen your voice telling about fashion

Honestly I'm optimistic about Mugler. It can do a Balmain a la Christophe Decarnin.

I love your videos. I would like to see your view on Laura Biagiotti, an Italian brand that I feel has a lot of potencial, and It was very popular in the 80s and 90s.

so well researched and intriguing as usual, i'm looking forward to your next upload! i would love to see videos on mqueen, galliano, van herpen or margiela, or miss sohee, robert wun and dilara findikoglu, whose brands are all on the rise.

Thank goodness for his fragrance line.

the women who have helped bring back mugler to public consciousness deserve a shout out. i don't think this would've been possible without cardi b making into the best dressed lists fr years by wearing so many archive mugler looks, from head to toe. i mean, that iconic "see you again next year, or not" clip is a staple of the new year's now, in which she is wearing mugler. kim Kardashian in the wet look for the met gala 2019 was giving what she wanted to give with wearing marilyn's dress last year. arca and her theatrics at the fashion show to promote a handbag, people were speculating if it was even planned. they understood the vision manfred had, the one casey has now too, and went all in with no brakes.

I'm surprised that you didn't mentioned their red carpet looks the last few years.... they have dressed many celebrities with custom looks

can you do a video documentary on anna bayle? she was one of mugler's important muses.

Thank you wonderful and clever women behid this and others Understitch/Underskin videos! :D You are making great job! There are many vidoes about fashion houses/desigers here on YT but non ever makes such deep dive into economy, finances, branding and brand image. They always only talk about silouettes, fabrics and ¨vision¨ in artistic manner what is quite detached to how fashion bussiness look like. I hate how pople criticize that great input of yours, seriousley some people are just stupid (?) or simply write comments without watching videos. I noticed you answer to (almost) all comments but I am glad you do not answer to some of these insulting, demanding or silly ones. The lion will not be disturb by the ant.

When I was a student at F.I.T. Mugler was one of THE brands to look at for inspiration. All of the students spent hours in the library looking at video fashion monthly and later Style with Elsa Klensch to get a glimpse of his theatrical fashion shows. His designs while incredible were sometimes hard to wear. In NYC only stores like Barneys, Charivari , IF and Untitled carried select pieces. What kept his name afloat for many years was not the ready to wear or even the haute couture which didn't compete with Chanel, YSL, Dior or LaCroix. It was his perfume Angel which is still doing well.

Nicola's first few collections wih gaga were amazing, i wish they stuck and i wish he had a gig at a major house right now

Muglar is drag. Over the top in extreme ways. Today consumer is ready for that and ready to wear that

The mesh, denim, and overall stretchy fabric looks cheap and no amount of provocative cut changes that.

Wow! Young people... You can find lots of images of Thierry Mugler's early 1970s collection pieces in issues of WWD paper copies. You can find digitized copies of those issues at NYC libraries and the library of congress. There were also lots of images and videos of his shows and interviews on Style with Elsa Klensch in the mid/late 1980s into the 1990s.

@6:16 looks like one of the villains from Sailor Moon

great video! Their early aesthetic definitely fits neatly with our postmodern hyper-pop techno punk that they are shooting for. It's just a shame they need to lean on fast fashion to fund the theatrics, I am curious about the quality because if those pieces, and I do appreciate the opening up of the brand this could have. Tis capitalism I guess... So would this be the rise fall and possibly rise again?

You should do the Rise and Fall of John Galliano ... not John Galliano the designer (we know what happened to that), but John Galliano the Brand.

El perfume Angel yo lo tuve cuando era poco conocido cuando salio luego vino el boom fue un antes y despues trajo los llamados perfumes gourmand fue su mejor obra colosal y el perfume mas vendido junto a Chanel n5 del mundo durante una decada su obra maestra yo pienso que ni pensaba que iba a gustar tanto Thierry Mugler se hecha de menos en los desfiles el unico diseñador que fue invitado a la exclusiva HAUTE COUTURE

You should do a Rise and Fall of Emanuel Ungaro.

I will miss the men’s fragrance line dearly. Shame the bottles I have will more than likely be the last I can get my hands on.

Angel still one of the best fragrances

epic bio! wish you where around in the 90's when I wanted to know more about Paris designers of the 1930s #medavogcouture

Can You Do A Video On "GALLERY DEPT. JOSUE THOMAS"! I'm curious to see his start

The lacy black look from the couture (85?) looks like something from a Sailor Moon manga. :)

I love Cadwallader's work for Mugler so far. The fashion videos they've been making are breathtaking. The spring 2022 video brought me to tears, specifically the homage to Thierry with the ballerina in one of his original designs from the 90s. I've lost count of how many times I've watched it.

I want to see Casey have an haute couture collection with so much metal pieces in his signature design, shape, and style. Like, I’d love to see metal swirling around the models’ bodies!

Mugler 2020+ is amazing! Utterly obsessed.

Please do Helmut lang next!

My inner Sailor Moon fan absolutely grinning at 06:05 like:

i saw Grace Jones on the early runway shots.

Can you do the designer Romeo Gigli?

Where can I find his last Women's Fashion Show online? It was fall 2001, wasn't it? Does anybody know? Another collection I wish to see again concerns a couture show where you could admire dresses hung from nipple rings. I saw it just once, but RU-vid's Puritanical & preposterous rules about female bare breasts blocked any potential research. My problem is that I don't remember nog the year or the season, I just know that happened around the year 2000. If any of you could give me some useful information I would be really thankful to.

Correction, the live show was also in 2023 during couture week, one year after Thierry's passing

i heard someone say that the H&M x MUGLER collab is "mugler design, H&M material" which isn't super bad ig, but definitely something to note. however, the price being more accesible and thus more people wearing it was a smart move. i got the biker pants and spiral denim. these are forever staying in my wardrobe

Angel was actually a ‘flop’ for the first few years after its launch, it started gaining popularity around 1997 and this grew rapidly from around 2000/2001 and onwards. I’m glad they persisted with Angel because it’s an iconic fragrance.

In the furniture are you going to feature Christian Lacroix?

Yeah I feel like Nichola could have done really well, no idea how it didn’t work better

I purchased two Mugler men’s suits in Bangkok and they still look terrific to this day.

Was that Jerry Hall?

I have seen the h&m ads, 😢 thought the designer was alive and well.🙏🏻💫

The Mugler brand was never mass produced. It was always exclusive. And usually worn by Society’s most darigg by fashion icons ( i.e. Grace Jones) What built Mugler’s empire was his perfume, Angel. That’s where Mugler got its wide appeal.

He went crazy

Casey has a vision and his creativity is exceptional. First time I saw his video on RU-vid I was stunned. Sometimes I wonder how these ideas come from. I love the idea that fashion is made for all.

I absolutely love Alien (it smells like grape soda) and Aura is amazing ❤️

Thierry Mugler has never gone down!

I think Koma did a good job. A bit too minimal but vip has started wear mugler again thanks to his work. After he left mugler he has created his own brand which is successful and has great visibility on red carpets, sign that his creativity is loved

Is that a south asian salwar kamiz at 3:18???😮😮

That motor bike top is baphomet

After questionable moves, Muggie is on EVERYONE'S lips..

it's a shame Formichetti's vision didn't stick, out of the 3 designers from that era he seemed to understand the brand the best

I've been wearing Angel cologne for 10 years and its probably the only cologne i'll ever wear again. I get constant compliments about it and men and women love it.

Angel remains to this day my favourite scent.

It’s FASHUNDAY You’re watching Understitch✨

as a fan of old mugler (mostly perfume) i don't agree what new mugler (loreal) is great. its lost all of brand dna and true fans are disspointed, but for gen z its suits. all thierry mugler fragrances and style was outside the box of standart designer brand fragrances. loreal fragrances for mugler is very weak and trying to fit into mainstream. i know that non mugler fans like this, but old fans keep buying vintage on ebay. after thierry mugler's death its not mugler anymore

Comic Artist of Sailor Moon when Designing Villain Characters Costumes Always inspired by Muglers look

20:29 calling

You just got to love empty fashion jargon. Whenever there is a shiny fabric, it's "futuristic" 😅

ana sui next?

Mugler by Formichetti was really amazing, but the aesthetics wasn't appealing to the public back in that time. Otherwise, Casey aesthetics is more commercial, but it's getting bored

It's w for wumbo❤️

Alexander McQueen next please 💅

RIP

Hi Understitch, Huge boats of money will not recreate the Mugler magic even with very talented designers. The magic start along time age with a two person team Mugler a Ballet dancer and Azzedine Alaia.. They were commitment to design a very unique tight fitting sexy dress with Mugler showmanship and Alaia master dress maker and pattern making.skills. They pool their considerable amount of talent and small amount money from Mugler family to makes early dresses. Mugler did the styling with all the flare of showstopping look. In those early hungry days dedicated to vision the magic was born. Mugler is only half the story.. I would like to request a video on Azzadine Alaia as there very little information on him. thank you. PS another great video. combine business model with fashion and how important ready to wear collection and runway show really are.

INVIGORATED--right when he died Funny how that happens in fashion & music designer/band/celeb stops being cashcow for ELITES DIES SUDDENLY ..... name/brand becomes lucrative in perpetuity--and no longer need to cut in artist