Initiated and produced by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), in collaboration with the House of MUGLER and Clarins Group, this retrospective showcases the singular imagination of the French designer that revolutionized fashion and haute couture.
![A model wearing a sheer Mugler body suit covered in crystals, pearls, and beads](jpg/slider1-001.jpg)
© David LaChapelle
![A black and white photo of a woman wearing a skirt suit, leather gloves, stockings, and a stocking headpiece](jpg/slider2-002.jpg)
© The Helmut Newton Estate
![A black and white photo of a close up of a man with beard stubble](jpg/slider3-003.jpg)
© Dominique Issermann
Conceived as an opera in six acts, the exhibition revisits Mugler’s iconic creations and collaborations in spectacular settings.
Thierry Mugler: Couturissime features some 150 outfits – most restored and exhibited for the first time – produced between 1977 and 2014, in addition to accessories, theatre costumes, videos, film clips, videos, archives and unpublished sketches.
It also presents a hundred rare prints by the greatest fashion photographers and artists, including Lillian Bassman, Guy Bourdin, Jean-Paul Goude, Karl Lagerfeld, Paolo Roversi, Dominique Issermann, David LaChapelle, Luigi & Iango, Alix Malka, Max Abadian, Steven Meisel, Mert & Marcus, Sarah Moon, Pierre et Gilles, Paolo Roversi, Herb Ritts, and Ellen von Unwerth. An entire gallery is dedicated to the collaboration between the couturier and photographer Helmut Newton. The exhibition also features a rotation of 16 of the costumes designed by Mugler for La Tragédie de Macbeth, shown here for the first time since the 1985 Comédie-Française production at the Festival d'Avignon.
"The exhibition Thierry Mugler: Couturissime, presented in Montreal Museum of Fine Arts before beginning its international tour, is a masterful showcase for the public or Mr.Mugler’s creative genius. As the first major tribute to the creator.
Thierry Mugler: Couturissime reveals the many facets of a unique and multitalented master of couture for whom the motto «My limit is no limits» served as inspiration for over forty years."