A Silhouette Soft Focus
Review of Mugler Spring 2026 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
A New Neutrality, Reconstructed Glamour, Scientific Sensuality
In the great designer re-shuffle, the news of Casey Cadwalladers departure didn’t receive as much fanfare as his peers, allowing the newly appointed creative director Miguel Castro Freitas to debut without the same amount of pressure as has been applied at houses’ such as Dior and Versace. This could have been both a blessing and a curse for the designer, yet he made an assured outing with his first collection for Mugler.
Pulling back on the raw sexiness (not withstanding a wisp of a dress attached to a model’s nipple rings!), the focus today was on the structured Mugler silhouette inspired by the hourglass, with the well-known extravagances of the brand only truly evident in the glossy PVC and rubberised suits, as speaking backstage the designer expressed a sense of urgency to “dig deeper” into the archives, into the lore.
Rather than present a carbon copy of how the consumer recognises the brand, Castro Freitas considered the construction of the Mugler silhouette as his North Star. The hourglass in particular was his muse as waists were whittled away and hips became more prominent. When you understand this approach, how this collection unfolded on the runway made complete sense for his first presentation, explaining backstage “Most people associate Mugler with the 80s and power dressing, which is a big part of the house. But there’s so much more to it, like the obsession with the hourglass, the 40s and the 50s, inspired by Christian Dior and the New Look. So, it’s the reason why I wanted this collection to summarise in a certain way, what really encapsulates Mugler,”
Some may forget the command Thierry Mugler had for a tailored suit, disguised as it sometimes was beneath the spectacle of his shows in the 80s and 90s, so this was a reminder of the brands origin story (as a prelude to the designer putting his own stamp on his time at the house perhaps?).
Where joy and optimism through fun shapes and vibrant colour clashes have been seen across the season, in response to the current climate Castro Freitas believes the most disruptive approach to the madness is to bring back glamour, telling The Impression “The collection was very much to do with glamour, to rescue and recover a bit of that. In the time and age that we are living in, I think that one of the most disruptive things that you can do is to bring glamour back, contrary to what happened in other moments, like what you saw happening in the ’90s, with the resurgence of grunge as a counter movement to what was happening in the 80s, like the excess.”
His approach to glamour was a scientific one, as he said “researching in a laboratorial way”, he wanted to mentally deconstruct the silhouette and rebuild it to reveal what it should stand for today. There was suiting, but not as we know it, a severe linear shape was reminiscent of a strait jacket with the sleeve heads rolled forward to create a pleasingly awkward fit, padded bodysuits which through clever cut-outs accentuated the waistline, rather than adding to it, and a nod to the spring 1997 Haute Couture collection with two looks referencing rainbow-coloured feathers which unfortunately felt watered down and as if they deserved the theatre of couture to truly land.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
Most people associate Mugler with the 80s and power dressing, which is a big part of the house. But there’s so much more to it, like the obsession with the hourglass, the 40s and the 50s, inspired by Christian Dior and the New Look. So, it’s the reason why I wanted this collection to summarize in a certain way, what really encapsulates Mugler”
Miguel Castro Freitas, creative director, Mugler
THE WRAP UP
Miguel Castro Freitas’ debut for Mugler was less about shock value and more about a reigning in, grounding the house in its foundation: the hourglass. By stripping back the spectacle to focus on structure, tailoring, and a return to glamour, he reminded us of Mugler’s origins while charting a path forward with quiet confidence.
The collection felt thoughtful, where PVC gloss and sculpted suiting hinted at the drama to come, but the emphasis remained on silhouette as science.
