Casey Cadwallader, the New Man at Mugler, Talks About Taking On the Legendary French Label

Mugler announced American designer Casey Cadwallader as its new creative director in December 2017. Now, six months later, he’s making his debut with an unveiling here in New York of a series of images from his first collection—a capsule that will go on sale in August at Net-a-Porter, Bergdorf Goodman, and the Mugler boutique in Paris. Cadwallader’s résumé includes time at Narciso Rodriguez, Loewe, and most recently Acne Studios, but he also studied architecture at Cornell University. That fusion of interest in clothing design and built forms is quintessentially Mugler. Essentially, this is a house dedicated to what happens when construction intersects with the curves of the human body.

Yet that’s only part of the story. Mr. Mugler, as Cadwallader respectfully refers to him, was also no slouch when it came to pushing buttons. There were his Power Women, whose thrusting sexuality was distilled through film noir heroines, dominatrices, and superheroes. Then there were his shows, huge cast-of-thousands extravaganzas (it’s not every day you see a just-divorced Ivana Trump and porn star Jeff Stryker share the same runway, as happened in 1991). Last but not least were his directing duties for George Michael’s campy 1992 “Too Funky” video, starring Linda Evangelista, Tyra Banks, and others.

What makes Cadwallader such a smart and interesting choice for Mugler is that he brings a very 21st-century spin to so many of the tropes which Thierry Mugler established; an empowered reading of femininity, sexuality, body positivity, and diversity. By stripping away the campiness, Cadwallader’s debut reminds us that the house of Mugler was also about terrific real clothes, not just the flashy pyrotechnics. That’s underscored by the new guy’s interest in the technological advances in activewear, something that he’s eyeing for his incarnation of the label. The following conversation took place on the May 1 holiday in France. Despite the festive nature of the day, Cadwallader was reflective, thoughtful, and intelligent about taking on the house, and what lies ahead of him.

You’re doing your first Mugler presentation in New York, which will be a photo exhibition of sorts. . . .

It will highlight the shoot of my debut collection. It’s really about creating a new culture around the brand, focusing on 10 women who represent a very different vision of what it can be in the future. We cast them on the strength of the conversations I had had with them, over breakfasts and dinners—and the kind of conservations that they would have with each other. There are some women from Mugler’s illustrious past, like the model Amy Wesson, who exactly 20 years ago was a face of the brand, shot in a crystal pyramid by Mr. Mugler. She had struggled with addiction, but today she’s a very healthy mother of two; she’s from Mississippi and she now lives in Texas—so Southern and lovely.

Where did you do the shoot?

In Barcelona, at [architect] Ricardo Bofill’s home and office, which was a cement factory until the 1960s; it’s a giant glorious ruin of a building which goes on and on, with rooftop gardens with amazing views. My favorite shot is of Amy wearing a coat I did in collaboration with artist Samara Scott on the roof, with the sunset behind her. Amy projects a different idea of a heroine. She was standing on a wall, six or seven stories up in the air, in these archival metal-tip stilettos, and she’d let go of our hands every time we’d take a shot. The focus and the confidence in her eyes . . . she was so Mugler in that moment: I’m strong and I’m unafraid of this.

Who else did you shoot?

Jess Cole, a writer and a journalist, who’s really interested in the representation of women of color in the arts, their stories and their choices. She was always reading on the shoot! Debra Shaw, who’s now working in Paris for the British Consul; she’s an iconic woman of color from Mugler’s past. The rapper 070 Shake, who’s very petite and very beautiful, and who came along with her girlfriend; she’s beyond gender, she’s much more about humanity.

From Japan, Ami Suzuki, who brought this whole angle of modern femininity; what that means to her mother, what that means to her mother’s generation. Dustin Muchuvitz, who’s this beautiful red-haired DJ from Paris who uses makeup to transform themselves and explore their character, and who has modeled for Maison Margiela. The swimmer Anna Santamans who competed in the 2012 Olympics; she was afraid of water a lot of her life and she had to master her fear. We shot her in a pool. A new model, Vivienne Rohner, who’s Swiss, and who also does photography, working a lot with nudes; she’s very sensual, with a soft toughness to her. She addressed everyone very directly, and that made everyone open up and chat on the set.

And there’s the actress Anna Brewster from London, who’s very catlike and intense; she brings another idea of transformation. She really conveys this Muglerian idea of power in her gaze; she’s very strong. Lastly, Samara [Scott], who we shot at Bofill’s country house in the Costa Brava, in a red ceramic pool. She said to me, I want to get into the water in the coat, so we photographed her swimming in it.

Why shoot 10 individuals as opposed to, say, just one?

The shoot was about this big moment where we could really blow the doors off the brand and set what I want Mugler to be about; the idea of meeting people and being so inspired by them. That always makes me rethink how I design, make clothes. It’s not the idea of having one muse. I like to think about a lot of different women.

Who shot the images?

Arnaud Lajeunie, who’s a friend of a friend I’ve known for 10 years here in Paris. He took my portrait for Mugler, and I got on well with him, and he showed so much energy and enthusiasm. He used very extreme lighting, which has some mystery to it, and this decadent color—there’s a modernity to it.

You also touched on the whole notion of architecture which was so much part of Mugler’s identity in your images; all those shoots he did using all those gargantuan Soviet-era heroic buildings. . . .

We did look at some similar sites to the ones he’d used, in Eastern Europe, that monumental Brutalist architecture. I’m an ex-architect, so location [for the shoot] was very important. And I wanted to take the women we were working with somewhere that had an incredible energy. My husband and I have been sending each other images of Bofill’s practice for a decade, and it was unclear that we could do the shoot there. The craziest part of the shoot was when Mr. Bofill walked out of a door and straight into where we were working; I think he was like, “What exactly is going on here?” I introduced myself and he was so kind; that was my young-architect fantasy. Also, it’s important to me that Mugler doesn’t just engage with only fashion or amazing women, but also the arts, interiors, architecture. . . .

Let’s turn to talking about taking on the house of Mugler. It has this whole larger-than-life image to it, a very specific identity and set of codes. What were you thinking about when you arrived there?

There are so many things you think about before you come in. The heritage of Mugler looms large in my mind; I had a lot of impressions already! I looked at the different eras [of the house]; coming in after David [Koma], what people might want after his time there. His vision was very sexy and evening, very tailored. Before that there was Nicola Formichetti’s time, which was so much about Lady Gaga and sensational pop culture; it was so much about performance. They weren’t really producing the clothes, it was all about the process. For me, when I was working on my project for the job, I wanted to get into Mr. Mugler’s head. There were things about his aesthetic that I loved, and there were things like his love of superheroes, and a certain level of fantasy, that were things born in him. But to be so daring and forward and direct, as he was—that’s only motivating. What are the ways I connect with Mugler and what do I want to carry forward—and how do I make them today? The culture is very different, women are very different. There’s a lot to be done.

Talk about your debut collection. What’s in it?

It’s got 25 pieces; it’s the smallest I have ever worked on! How do you say a lot with so little? I like the idea of getting known for making a certain kind of clothing, and building on it, so the collection is based on the idea of doing things I won’t get tired of, and I could see in a store for a year. I’m interested in doing leather a certain way, fluid in this way, evening in this way . . . I’m interested in technology and sportswear.

There’s a denim group; I’m interested in dressing that’s casual, but that can also be more elevated. How does Mugler approach denim and make it stand out? Everything is imbibed with a more sculptural feel, so the jeans are quite rounded, cut on a spiral, and there’s a jacket, oversize with big sleeves, which also spirals around the body. There’s very exacting tailoring; one jacket is adjustable, cinching the waist, and there’s another that’s more classic. We did these cycling shorts and leggings, which look like they’re Lycra but are actually French satin, with reflectors on them. They have that insectoid Mugler quality to them; they look a bit like a beetle [laughs].

I’d love to know a bit more about your interest in performancewear; you told me a while back you’d gone to a sportswear conference, or something like that, in Germany?

It was the ISPO conference in Munich, which is a trade fair for sportswear manufacturers and suppliers—ski, climbing, hiking, et cetera. I’ve skied since I was 6 years old, and I exercise, run, and hike a lot. I’m constantly excited when I pick my own gear and I’m always inspired by the innovation of sportswear in terms of fabric, technique, garment construction, laser-cutting, welding, bonding, and the speed at which it’s developing. It’s different every year.

I know that the house has a huge archive. Have you been delving into that?

Some of it really excites me and some of it [laughs] washes over me. I’ve gotten to see so many things in person, it’s interesting to see what has stuck. The pieces are really precise, in general, and then some of them are taped together and spray-painted; the mix of precision and impulsiveness is irresistible. There’s a sculpture and a materiality to so much of it. I took one corseted tulle catsuit with patent leather on it from the Fall 1998 couture, and put it on my fit model. It was body-bending, quite literally—and it was comfortable; she was happy to prance around the studio in it. His early-’90s collections are much more concrete in people’s minds, but if you go back into the late ’70s, the early ’80s, his designs are much lighter and sportier, more street, which is more interesting to me; they give me confidence for what I want to do here. His work was extremely broad. It totally changes over the years. Part of my upbringing with Narciso was how to shape clothes to make all women look good, and I can see that in Mr. Mugler’s work.

He was also known for a certain campiness, a wink-wink humor that mixed up everything from mid-century Hollywood to S&M. Do you think about that—or just ignore it?

It is something I think about. When I was watching old shows . . . the theatricality and his absolute ability to create a character. He loved the stage and the lights, and there is this campy, cartoony side to the label. When you see a jacket that turns a model into a fish . . . it blows your mind, even if it’s not the way I think about fashion. I feel I’ve got more immediate things to focus on—to build the business, to get it to lift off. I’m reminded of what Phoebe Philo said when she started at Céline: “This isn’t about fashion. It’s about making clothes for women. Fashion will come later.” So humor will come later!

He also promoted the idea of a strong women, which of course, in the era of #MeToo and Time’s Up, feels important to acknowledge and address. . . .

I’m more interested in that, connecting that idea to today’s culture, than humor or camp. There’s much more poignancy to it. He was designing for the a strong woman in 1987 or 1988; the strong woman of 2018 is very different. These days I think most women already have confidence in themselves, and who they are; they know their own destiny, their purpose, their sense of self. And that makes me excited about designing easy clothes and approachable clothes, rather than speaking to the idea of the label being body-con. Sometimes, sure, you want that—but you also want a great sweatshirt.