Fall 2009: Thierry Mugler’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
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You know you’re in for a treat when you catch a glimpse of a model stepping out for a pre-show smoke and he’s sporting a shiny metallic eye patch. And the sophomore outing of the relaunched Thierry Mugler Homme collection by creative director Rosemary Rodriguez was a treat -- in that the looks were the wonderfully over-the-top caricatures that until now were missing from this season’s ‘gray is the new everything’ round of fashion shows.
The fellow with the eye patch was followed by a jackbooted thug, the Red Baron in a red nylon puffer jacket, ringmasters, dandies and mysterious visitors from the future. At turns it felt like an outtake from ‘Valkyrie’ (which is advertised on posters here in Paris as ‘Walkyrie’) or a casting call for ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,’ with a parade of jodhpurs, riding jackets, top hats, futuristic shiny trousers, trenches and a gent who closed the show in a floor-dusting bathrobe open to the navel.
But strip away the theatrics of leather flight helmets and bedazzled eye patches and there are some solid, handsome-looking pieces that wouldn’t look out of place in the average upscale wardrobe, most notably the wide range of outerwear -- puffer vests, parkas, trenches, fur-trimmed car coats and high-collared shearling jackets.
-- Adam Tschorn