A portrait of a brilliant creator—sometimes misunderstood for his extravagance—who thrived in the excessive ’80s and championed fashion as total scenography.

Thierry Mugler (1948–2022) always knew exactly what kind of fashion he wanted to create: bold, grand, futuristic. With reinvention as his mantra, his collections presented a powerful, defiant, battle-ready woman. The success of his fragrance Angel—which at times outsold Chanel No. 5—gave him the financial freedom to embrace eccentricity. His designs were as unmistakable as they were, at times, almost cartoonish: metallic corsets, warrior-like gowns, and a comic-book villain aesthetic. The Mugler woman was unapologetically anti-bourgeois. By the late ’90s, he grew tired of fashion, but two decades later, his iconic designs have been revived by a new generation—led by Beyoncé—that worships his brand of excessive, epic sex appeal.