Mugler - Ready To Wear - Fall Winter 2013 - Paris

27 Feb 2013
Ready To Wear Fall Winter 2013 Paris

The MuglAIR service from the future has just arrived, gate number 5. “We wanted to explore the idea of travel through time, in style,” said creative director Nicola Formichetti in the show notes, and with this idea in mind, he and designer Sebastien Peigné took off on a voyage through their idea of first-class glamour.

The aerodynamic ladies of the house nodded to the pioneering eras of modern air travel at the cusp of the fifties and the sixties. Thankfully, the luxury element eliminated most of the fabrics that had plagued those days, leaving only the discreet sheen of high quality fabrics. Streamlined comes to mind when taking in the opening palette of grey suits completed by cagoules, the shoulders emphasized by oversize volumes that had something of Cristobal Balenciaga’s jackets of the same period – Peigné has worked in the past at Nicolas Ghesquière’s Balenciaga – as well as something of the curves of Brazilia’s architectural features – Oscar Neimeyer’s work.

It’s a shame that the low heel height gave an ungainly, tilted-back gait to these silhouettes, as these otherwise ladylike silhouettes had something of the Hitcockian heroine to them, with their demurred femme fatale sensuality. Less well integrated into this jet-set society were a group of dresses in the middle, their slick satin given a lick of futurism through black cuffs with neon splashes. But they were soon forgotten as the final group, their heads hidden under large and stiff white leather kerchiefs, arrived heralded by a darkening of the soundtrack mixed by Michel Gaubert. Spot on, however, were the tones used. The flat concrete greys, the bright pastel peach and yellow, the petrol blue lifted off the shimmering of kerosene and the pristine white of clouds provided the perfect palette to paint this retro-futurist airport.

- Lily Templeton