Mugler's Miguel Castro Freitas: "I Don't Want to Fall Into Reverence"

"I'm obsessed with clichés. Because for me they are the equivalent of universal recognisable codes. It was important to call it that as a way of assuming the word. It's about tapping into cliché."

"His was the imagination that defined Eighties power dressing with nipped-in waists and boldly authoritative shoulders, arch retro-futurist takes on the costumes of 1940s cinema and pulpy comic-book illustrations. In the 1990s his shows became ever more extravagant, some of the first to fuse fashion with pop culture."

Miguel Castro Freitas became Mugler's creative director approximately one year ago and has adopted a distinctive approach to the storied fashion house. Rather than shying away from the aesthetic universe filled with power-suited femmes fatales, showgirls, and dominatrices that define Mugler, Freitas embraces these elements as universal recognizable codes. His debut collection is subtitled A Trilogy of Glorified Clichés, conceived as the first installment of a three-part exploration of Mugler archetypes, similar to a movie franchise structure. This strategy allows him to navigate the potentially overwhelming legacy of founder Thierry Mugler, who revolutionized 1980s fashion with power dressing, nipped waists, bold shoulders, and retro-futurist aesthetics inspired by 1940s cinema and comic books. Mugler's influence extended into the 1990s with increasingly extravagant shows that pioneered fashion and pop culture fusion.

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