Recycled Fashion

Thierry Mugler can be seen as a contemporary neo-classicist as illustrated by this pleated white cotton cocktail dress, which provides a clever blend of angular, mid-1980s styling and linear neo-classical form. Mugler became celebrated from the middle 1980s for his sophisticated, sculptural clothing and for his skill in transforming the shape of the body. He achieved his effects with complex cut, stitching, pleating and padding; and he has drawn on influences as wide-ranging as theatre performance, nature and, as here, classical sculpture.

In this outfit, swathed front and back panels and multi-directional pleating echo the complicated wrap-around effect of the Roman toga. Despite this historical influence, the asymmetric cut of the dress and its padded details point to a much more modern, late 1980s design. This unusual combination of simple, loose draping inspired by classical Rome, with a firmly structured contemporary silhouette is typical of Mugler's eclectic and avant guarde style.

Full item descriptions:

"cocktail dress" [1998.157], Mugler, Thierry

Related Themes:

Neo-classicism
Designers