Thierry Mugler - Early Career

Early Career

At the age of 24, Mugler decided to travel the world and left Strasbourg to go live in Paris. He began designing clothes for a small, trendy Parisian boutique by the name of "Gudule". At 26, Mugler, who was working as a freelance designer, began to work for a variety of large ready-to-wear fashion houses in Paris, Milan, London and Barcelona.

In 1973 Mugler created his first personal collection called "Café de Paris". The style of the collection was both sophisticated and urban. Melka Tréanton, a powerful fashion editor, helped launched his career. In 1976, she asked him to show his work in Tokyo, for an event organized by Shiseido. In 1978 he opened his first Paris boutique at the place des Victoires (in the 1st arrondissement). At the same time, Thierry Mugler launched a fashion collection for men. For this collection, he reworked classical masculinity giving it a definitively modern style. A clean, precise, structured cut which outlined a highly-recognizable silhouette: prominent shoulders, both "anatomical and classic", for a dynamic and slender look.

During the 1980s and 1990s Thierry Mugler had become an internationally recognized designer and his collections garnered much commercial success. At the request of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, he completed his first haute couture collection in 1992.

He also created the famous black dress worn by Demi Moore in the 1993 movie, Indecent Proposal.