Casey Cadwallader, the creative director of Mugler, went back to video to show off his latest collection. Here’s all you need to know about Mugler’s spring/summer 2022 collection, from the star-studded casting to putting body-inclusivity at the forefront of the designs.
Body positivity was at the heart of the campaign
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Mugler’s core value is inclusivity, with items designed to accommodate a wide range of body types. “It’s something our team works really hard on – our fit models are curvy, so when we build clothes with that architecture in mind, it translates into production,” explains the Casey. “We’ve been selling a high number of larger sizes, and when I see curvy women wearing the clothes on my Instagram account, it’s amazing.”
The film was shot outdoors for the first time
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Torso, a long-time Cadwallader partner, shot the picture at Paramount Studios and on the streets of Los Angeles. The house and its inspirations have finally broke free from the black-and-white restrictions of previous seasons in the third and final episode the fashion film trilogy. An all-star Mugler cast, including Bella Hadid, Chloe Sevigny, Dominique Jackson, and Megan Thee Stallion, took us on a sultry, surreal journey through the backlots of Hollywood, serving up scene-stealing performances in homage to silver screen stars and Hollywood icons past and present, with four walls obliterated.
“The desire to get outside was a factor this season,” says the designer. “But the different layers of indoor and outdoor made it even more strange and iconic simultaneously. And the ’90s limo was in reference to Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.”
The film was star studded
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Megan Thee Stallion (with whom Cadwallader recently collaborated on her most recent music video), Chloe Sevigny, Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow, Lola Leon, Bella Hadid, Adut Akech, and Dominique Jackson, to mention a few, appear in the film.
“Click the cam, roll the scene,” sings Shygirl. Megan makes her long-awaited appearance in the Mugler film universe in the first scene of the film. The rapper is serving body in a fictional billboard campaign for the house’s latest denim offering, alongside a slew of denim-clad video vixens. Remember the SS21 thong jeans in black lycra? Casey has upped the ante this season with a collection of ‘naked’ jeans made with ‘Illusion tulle,’ a new house hallmark that provides an unachievable trompe l’oeil illusion. Megan strides across the set, her legs wrapped in two writhing denim spirals; her dancers twerk for the camera, each cheek sporting a floating denim pocket.
Very large hoop earrings were a distinctive accessory.
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It was all about movement direction.
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Movement direction was crucial to the final product, as it is in all Mugler films. Traci Young-Byron, a renowned Atlanta movement director, is responsible for the video’s smooth hips swaying.
the whole idea was focusing on the bum
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“This whole idea of focusing on the bum as much as other people focus on the boob is something I really took from Manfred,” Casey says, referencing the label’s founder, who died earlier this year. Casey makes a reference to the late designer’s AW95 Couture collection, which included a frock that showed off the décolleté de la derrière, or “butt crack,” to use Casey’s American slang. In fact, the creative director is interested in bringing these French couture ideas into the modern realm of American fashion and streetwear.
The film pays tribute to Manfred Thierry Mugler
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The film’s spectacular climax sees prima ballerina Maria Kochetkova and vogueing icon Barbie Swaee take to the stage in an emotive, energetic dance number, paying respect to the late Manfred Thierry Mugler and his penchant for performance. The Black Swan doppelgängers perform back-to-back in a sequinned halter dress suspended from a sculpted plexiglass collar from Mugler’s SS98 couture collection.
