cocktail dress

Thierry Mugler 1946

Summary

Ivory sateen knee-length cocktail dress, asymmetrically cut with padded bodice covered with horizontally pleated silk; single shoulder strap (right) with a pleated band swathed over to front and back; front swathe joins at waist seam and then forms a cf pleated panel to skirt; cb placket and zip with back swathe fastening over with presstuds; padded circles at front bust; skirt unlined. Separate belt/sash cut in 8 small sections with vertical seams; double hook fastening beneath padded bow. Thierry Mugler started his own label in 1974 and opened his first Paris boutique in 1978. His fashion house remained under his control until 2003.

Display Label

Thierry Mugler can be seen as a contemporary neo-classicist as illustrated by this pleated white cotton cocktail dress, which provides a clever blend of angular, mid-1980s styling and linear neo-classical form. Mugler became celebrated from the middle 1980s for his sophisticated, sculptural clothing and for his skill in transforming the shape of the body. He achieved his effects with complex cut, stitching, pleating and padding; and he has drawn on influences as wide-ranging as theatre performance, nature and, as here, classical sculpture. In this outfit, swathed front and back panels and multi-directional pleating echo the complicated wrap-around effect of the Roman toga. Despite this historical influence, the asymmetric cut of the dress and its padded details point to a much more modern, late 1980s design. This unusual combination of simple, loose draping inspired by classical Rome, with a firmly structured contemporary silhouette is typical of Mugler's eclectic and avant guarde style.