We head to New York to sit down with Mugler’s Casey Cadwallader and H&M’s Ann-Sofie Johansson to discuss the much-anticipated Mugler H&M collection
Last week in New York City, the Mugler H&M collection came strutting down a massive spiral runway. A mosh pit of revellers, among them Pamela Anderson and Chloë Sevigny, whooped and hollered as supermodels Irina Shayk, Paloma Elsesser and Eva Herzigova worked those second-skin panelled bodysuits, spiral denim and, yes, velvet vampire dresses. “I don’t really believe in fashion being for the exclusive few,” says Mugler creative director Casey Cadwallader. “So when the project to collaborate with H&M came about, I looked at it as a huge opportunity to give more people what they want, quite simply.”
It’s a fitting sentiment from a designer for whom diversity and inclusivity are much more than buzzwords. “I just fundamentally believe that the world is full of beautiful people who have curves wherever they have them,” says Cadwallader, who himself was brought up by “strong-willed and powerful women who have curves.” Throughout his career, he’s made it somewhat of a mission to develop the chops necessary to bring luxury fashion to all bodies (“I wasn’t trained to work on curvy bodies – none of the fashion designers are”). To that end, the democratic nature of an H&M collaboration is ideal for Mugler. Add to that the brand’s ubiquity in pop culture (it’s beloved by pop stars and Real Housewives alike) and you have yourself a collaboration that’s sure to fly off the shelves when it drops May 11th.
Front row at the Mugler H&M show: Lourdes Leon, Moses Sumney, Charli XCX, Chloe Sevigny, Pamela Anderson, Mugler's Casey Cadwallader, H&M's Ann-Sofie Johansson.
While the collection signifies Mugler for the masses, it’s also a rather unique mashup of design expressions and attitudes. Born in New Hampshire, Cadwallader spent his formative fashion years in New York, interning at Marc Jacobs. Mugler, meanwhile, is quintessentially French while H&M is our Swedish hometown hero. Collaborating with Swedes, however, was nothing new for Cadwallader; before taking up his post at Mugler in 2018, he worked at Acne Studios. “I think there’s a very strong synergy between Americans and Swedes,” he says, noting that during his tenure at Sweden’s biggest fashion house, he kept a flat in Södermalm. “I loved it there. But everyone is a little too organised for me, like, in terms of dinner reservations.” H&M creative advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson, sitting next to Cadwallader, lets out a hearty laugh in agreement.
We’re stationed in a tucked away room at the iconic Park Avenue Armory, just a few hours before the big runway show is set to kick off downstairs. The mood is considered chaos – models and dancers arriving en masse, dozens of people with lanyards and walkie talkies scurrying about. Cadwallader, wearing a zip-up corseted hoodie and relaxed leather trousers from his Mugler H&M collection, continues waxing poetic about Sweden. “I really love the culture, love the people – they have such good style, such good taste in design,” he says. “The city is so beautiful – all the water elements make me crazy.” He reckons that the Swedish mind and the American mind really “jam together” by way of being “direct, functional, efficient."
Epitomised by nipped waists and exaggerated shoulders – a sculptural celebration of the body, really – the Mugler aesthetic, at first glance, is not especially Swedish. But Johansson notes there is some Swedishness tucked into the French maison. “The first thing that I think of is the denim, to be honest,” she says. “We always have a little bit of a casual feeling to everything – a certain attitude that denim brings.” She pauses and adds: “And the leather. Swedish people love leather.” “I was going to say leather,” Cadwallader says. “It also has to do with the weather,” Johansson concludes.
In many ways, the Mugler H&M capsule is a playback of Cadwallader’s greatest hits for the house thus far. Sharp-shouldered tailoring (“it’s the most iconic thing in the house”), sexy, slinky dresses, and, yes, the denim (“I know my sales figures and I know what everyone wants”). The jeans are made from the very same material as their Mugler main line counterparts (denim with recycled lycra), albeit with a slightly modified design. “I wanted people to be able to get the hits,” Cadwallader confirms. The greatest bang for your buck, however, comes by way of the leather pieces, most notably a gorgeous floor-sweeping teal trench with an attached scarf. It first appeared on the Mugler runway but never made it to production because the cost was simply too high. “I won’t say what the Mugler price was but it was multiple thousands of euros and it sold under 10 units so it had to be cancelled. And now it’s the icon of this collaboration at an amazing price,” he says. “Everyone at the Mugler office is fighting for one.”
Also in the mix are a handful of pieces plucked from the Thierry Mugler-designed archive. A gorgeous candy pink skirt suit, for instance, finished with fetish-y silver hardware and the aforementioned vampire dress, with its sculptural pointed velvet bodice. “I mean, it’s an iconic dress,” Cadwallader says, noting that the original nabs €20,000 at resale. “To be able to take something so exclusive and bring to everyone, I was like, ‘Oooh, yes’.”
Now that Cadwallader’s most recognisable Mugler moments are primed to hit the masses, will these design details be retired from his forthcoming collections? “That’s a hot little question you have there,” he says with a grin. “If you look at what I did at the beginning and what I’m doing now, there’s a clear change. Mugler is a really wild brand and it takes a lot to adapt to it and to push it and to learn how to manage that beast.” The evolution is constant, but it’s still rewarding to revisit the favourites. “This is my foundation – it’s what I’m really proud of,” he says. “But yes, I’m always looking for what’s next. That’s what we do in fashion.”