Mugler. Spring 2020 RTW - Paris Fashion Week.

(Images from the designer and the public domain. Credited to the 

photographer/company where applicable: Gorunway.com )

As a fashion writer and critique of all styles via the runway, it is pleasing to witness newer trends emerge, after seeing the direction which has progressed from five years of runway shows.  From the clean lines of modernism into rugged mountaineering and urban militaristic styles, dabbling in fine tailoring of blazers and conservative suiting mixed into the high end fashion of 70's, 80's and 90's – whilst avant garde has some what taken a back seat.  Only to pop up from time to time, for the most part, the mentioned styles are either duking it out to gain traction as a trend into what could be new markets or fusing into something original.  In the meantime, a trend that is emerging, albeit subtle, is the stripped down, modified lingerie styles, set onto the mentioned styles.  In some shape form or another.

For Mugler Spring 2020, as a conglomerate owned brand, synonymous in name only of Thierry Mugler, who has since reestablished and remodeled himself, body and name, in a removing his namesake from the brand he created.   The transformation of Mugler, as a fashion label, is an interesting story in its self, for one, it has struggled to hold down creative directors.  Shifting in and out of cosmetics and back into fashion, it has been hard to pin down who is designing what, until 2018 when Casey Cadwallader, an American was appointed to head the brands creation direction. Who has embraced and reworked Mugler's early avant-garde styles, seen from Cadwallader's first season setting the impression for his recent collection.

Cadwallader has set the tune of the lingerie re-cut styles, as a metamorphosis from his  2020 resort collection, so it is now clear the direction he was heading for the Ready-to-Wear arrays.  The sex appeal is evident yet it also represents the durable, this is also a undercurrent of the more revealing arrangements, a toughness.   An endurance of withstanding the obsessiveness that our society has at the moment, within its various cultures, of dividing up identity.   From the sociological spectrum, both sides are at fault.  Not everything is black and white, there is the obscure, the gray area and when artists and designers work within that realm, they maintain the ambiguity.  Which is important.  To be accepted, does not necessarily mean freedom.

Blazers re-cut and cropped, stockings, mini skirts.  Mugler's early 90's, abstracted cuts and fits. Beautifully styled and arranged onto the models.   The color palette holds mostly dark hues, with some striking digital prints on polyester seen on some of the dresses and tops.

           

A very smart and focused collection from Cadwallader who has been able to blur distinctions without resorting to the obvious.