Fans of Thierry Mugler know very well that the designer has always been very fond of photography.
In 1988 Mugler even published a book that celebrated his work, Thierry Mugler - Photographer.
An Italian magazine specialised in photography published in 1986 a shoot that featured Mugler’s early experiments and, while moving stuff around the house, I stumbled upon it.
It was thanks to Helmut Newton that Mugler started taking pictures: the designer had asked the photographer to work on his advertising campaigns, but, from the moment Newton started taking his pictures, the photographer and the designer began quarrelling.
Mugler wanted a type of make up, Newton preferred another, the same happened for what regarded frames, angles, lights or the silhouette of a design that had to be highlighted.
At the end of this traumatic experience, Newton suggested Mugler to take the pictures by himself and the designer simply agreed.
Mugler’s fans have therefore to thank Newton if the designer’s talent as a photographer was discovered.
Mugler first took pictures of models wearing his designs, but, soon, one of his other passions - architecture - took over, turning his fashion images into shots in which models were just minor details.
Perfectly integrated in the images or creating contrasts with the landscapes or buildings that surrounded them, the models turned into a part of a bigger picture, a more intense story.
Mugler worked following one basic principle: whenever he had to take a picture, he would work on a sort of perfectly balanced composition, mixing some vital ingredients, the place chosen, the lights and his "characters" - that is the models - in a logic way.
The locations where the shoots were taken were usually chosen according to their architectural features: Mugler often stated that he let himself be inspired by the power or the energy a specific building oozed.
He would then look for an unusual point of view, a sort of hidden dimension that specific place had and add to the equation a human element that could make the building stand out.
The designer used to go and spend his holidays on a quest to find the perfect place where to take his images.
As his passion developed, the chosen spots became almost theatrical stages on which his models acted, locations that could offer him the perfect background to tell his stories.
The results were often sophisticated postcards in which Suzanne Moncur, Anne Bayle, Pat Cleveland, Sayoko and Iman looked like elegantly stylish and often statuesque elements of an amazing world in which everything was fantastically solemn and magnificently grand.
Mugler’s also refined his portraiture techniques, highlighting the most intense features of his subjects through light effects.
Professionals such as Jean-Philippe Decros and Peter Knapp offered him their advice and a few precious suggestions.
Most of the images Mugler produced ended up having a sort of cinematic quality about them: to achieve it the designer was often followed by a large crew of people, assistants who helped communicating with the models – usually perched metres away from Mugler on a building, a skyscraper, a statue or a rock – and coordinating more practical aspects such as dressing the models or taking care of make up and hairstyle.
Mugler favoured 125-600 mm telephoto lenses and usually employed a Canon camera, that he particularly liked for its precision, robustness and resistance to extreme temperatures.
The designer would also study the location for a long time before the shoot started and this guaranteed the highest results.
Mugler was influenced by the work of a few masters of photography such as Georges Hurrell, Hiro, Daniel Jouanneau, Paolo Roversi, Erwin Blumenfeld and - believe it or not - Helmut Newton, the man who inadvertently launched his career as photographer, while he was inspired in his use of lights and in his studies regarding the image composition by cinematographer Henry Alekan and directors Joseph von Sternberg and Orson Welles.
These early pictures published in 1986 are perfect examples of Mugler’s principles and inspirations.
There are two pictures I particularly like in this photoshoot: one features a model in a bright fuchsia outfit looking precariously balanced on a skyscraper, the other shows a model wearing a Thierry Mugler bustier that looks as if it were sculpted directly on her body, transforming her in this way into a detail of the huge sculpture she's leaning against.
With the exception of Karl Lagerfeld, there aren’t too many designers nowadays who seem to be actively interested in photography and that's a shame. Engaging in this form of art would definitely help a few of them to look with renewed eyes at their designs and maybe come up with some great inspirations as well.
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