STYLE

By Jessica Bailey

4 October 2023

PFW: At Mugler, Casey Cadwallader’s Runway Becomes an Aquarium

For Spring 2024, the creative director was inspired by his love of octopuses and jellyfish.

mugler-ss24 — PARIS, FRANCE – OCTOBER 02: Anok Yai walks the runway during the Mugler Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 02, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Kristy Sparow/Getty Images)

Manfred Thierry Mugler was a disrupter of fashion. And while Casey Cadwallader has gone on the record to say he wants to bid farewell to the Mugler days of cut-out body suits and corseted minis, that doesn’t mean he’s done with theatrics. Indeed, it’s quite the opposite.

“With Mugler, the theatricality is always intelligent, provocative, and most importantly, empowering,” Cadwallader told GRAZIA earlier in the year.

For Spring 2024, the creative director—who was inspired by his love of octopuses and jellyfish—transformed his runway into an aquarium. To create the effect of garments floating through water, large industry fans were situated along, and at the end of, the runway—with silks and chiffons trailing behind the models like marine creatures moving through the ocean (or Beyoncé on any given day of her Renaissance world tour). The first look was a black, wasp-waisted body plate made of a wet-look resin. Blazers were structured, square and cropped. On body suits, sequins combined with tinselled feathers—reminiscent of the most elaborate fish in the sea. Denim—something the Mugler founder loved—arrived in the shape of a standout jacket with a corseted-waist. Body-con dresses were present, none more striking that Amber Valletta’s cut-out atop of a corset dress. And while some garments were sheer, most were transparent, with extra pieces dangling from their uneven hemlines to create the illusion of seaweed.

“I think I’m interested in the ideals and goals of performance and transformation—the idea of clothing that allows you to become a different version of yourself, or one of the many versions of yourself that you like to inhabit,” Cadwallader told GRAZIA. “I think that Mugler’s theatricality is quite deep actually—it’s not just about how it feels for the audience to watch a good show, but instead about how the garments shape and provoke and inspire the person wearing them. Who they become when in them. It’s really about the power of clothing, the impact of fashion.”

To add to the theatrics: Paris Hilton. Doing her best pony walk, as spring-y as when she walked for Versace in Milan last SS season. Notable mentions: Irina Shayk, Helena Christensen, Paloma Elsesser, Anok Yai, and Fan Bingbing.