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Lions, tigers and bears! Team Mugler transformed their venue into a kind of mini stadium for AW12, directing models to enter and leave via four corners of the expansive floor evoking a grand exchange between chaos and pattern. As more and more and yet more models walked strode the runway (at one point they walked in four lines and at others just two) audience members all around were audibly picking out some of the many details on the dresses and looks. Sitting next to i-D was photographer and regular contributor to the magazine Ellen Von Unwerth who was clicking away on her camera. “Ninjas!” she exclaimed, “look at the nails they are like trees that are growing, look at this dress it’s like a beetle and this girl is like a little bear non?!” Sure enough the first crop of models wore little white furry head warmers and jackets with huge Mugler-esque shoulders harking back to 1940s extreme Hollywood glamour. Some dresses were like sculpted exoskeletons with black hoops that arched over the waist. In the final section a black, skintight jumpsuit with alligator panels made a strong impression. Mugler shows are all about creativity running amuck, what will actually make it to the shop floors is up to the buyers but dresses like the orange, floor-length sculpted number deserve to make it as do the white dresses with sheer panelling that resembled albino moths. Thirty-eight looks in all, Nicola Formichetti’s AW12 show was like a moving cabinet of specimens and species brought back from exotic lands by a celebrated explorer!
Text: Sarah Hay
Photography: Mitchell Sams
Click here to see our AW12 Womenswear coverage in full.
