Friday, Feb 11, 2022 • 9min
How Three Fashion Icons Shaped The Industry 'Beyond The Dress Or The Belt'
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Fashion greats Andre Leon Talley, Thierry Mugler and Virgil Abloh all had enormous influence on the fashion industry, and each shaped the future of fashion in his own way.
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Ari Shapiro
Dana Thomas
Robin Givhan
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Transcript
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Ari Shapiro
00:00
The fashion world has recently lost three of its greats. In January, former
Vogue
creative director, Andre Leon Talley,
died. He was 73.Share
00:10
You can be aristocratic without having been born into an Aristocratic family.
Share
Ari Shapiro
00:13
Talley
was the rare black editor at a time when they were few and far between. As he told NPR
in 2020, his presence could cause friction.Share
00:21
As you boldly with confidence show who you are to the world, certain people just have the fear of seeing someone tall and black suddenly come on the surface.
Share
Ari Shapiro
00:30
Shortly after that, fashion designer
Thierry Mugler
died, also 73.Share
00:35
It is a show for big kids. Grand child like I am.
Share
Ari Shapiro
00:42
Mugler
was known for funky, otherworldly silhouettes. He dressed stars like Grace Jones
, David Bowie
, and Diana Ross
. And in November of last year, Louis Vuitton
Artistic Director, Virgil Abloh
died. He was 41.Share
01:02
My personal goal is to understand what this new ethos in design can breed like new collections, governments in new ways that fashion can relate to the public.
Share
Ari Shapiro
01:17
Robin Givhan
, The Washington Post's
senior critic at large, reflected on what these losses across the fashion industry mean.Share
Robin Givhan
01:24
You'd lose a sense of institutional creative knowledge and expertise. You also, I think, lose the knowledge and the technique and the understanding of the business.
Share
Ari Shapiro
01:37
Consider this: The clothes we wear, the fashion, we value, they mirror our culture and how we see ourselves now and in the future.
Share
01:49
From
NPR,
I'm Ari Shapiro
. It's Friday, February 11th.Share
Break
Ari Shapiro
02:27
It's Consider This from
NPR
. In the music video for George Michael's
1992 hit, Too Funky
, models draped in the finest funkiest fits, strut, stalk, and preen down the runway.Share
02:42
Their silhouettes are big and bold, adorned with ornate armor, all designed by
Thierry Mugler
.Share
Dana Thomas
02:54
For him, everything was about beauty, power, and empowerment of women, making them provocative and strong without sacrificing their beauty.
Share
Ari Shapiro
03:02
That's fashion and culture, journalist
Dana Thomas
.Share
Dana Thomas
03:05
He loved the hourglass figure: big bosoms, tiny waist, big derriere. Sort of the
Jessica Rabbit
shape leanness.Share
03:12
Hi
Vogue
. It's Kim.Share
Ari Shapiro
03:14
In 2019,
Mugler
worked with reality TV star, Kim Kardashian
, to create a look for the Met Gala
. She told Vogue
as soon as she heard that year's theme, she thought:Share
Speaker 4
03:24
It's camp. Then it's Mr.
Mugler
. Like, he is like the king of camp, like he invented camp.Share
Dana Thomas
03:33
This nude colored latex gown for the
Met Gala
that was dripping in crystals that looked like raindrops — was just magical and magnificent in its femininity and yet its strength. All that Mugler
was and all that Kim Kardashian
tries to be really came together.Share
Ari Shapiro
03:50
Thierry Mugler
wore many hats. Photographer, designer for Cirque du Soleil
and Beyonce, and he was unapologetically queer at a time when that was unusual. When I spoke with Thomas
, I asked her what he did for LGBTQ people in fashion and beyond.Share
Dana Thomas
04:06
He was out and he was proud in a time when that was still not really done, even in fashion. And
Thierry Mugler
spent a lot of time in South Beach
and really living up in the gay community of South Beach,
and out on the beach in Miami Beach
, and really out in the crowd and having a great time and going to clubs.Share
04:27
He was also into weightlifting and became quite a bodybuilder. And the pictures that came out in later years where he was doing bodybuilding, and he was just fantastic. What a bold and brave person.
Share
Ari Shapiro
04:39
We've talked about a few of his signature looks, his iconic designs, moments that will live on in history. If somebody listening to this is unfamiliar with his work and they were going to do a
Google Image
search right now, what would you tell them to look for?Share
Dana Thomas
04:53
The most beautiful collection was the Insects collection. It was just extraordinary how- I don't even know how to say it. He made these women look like they were creatures in a magical forest.
Share
Ari Shapiro
05:05
I've just pulled this up and he has women covered in scales like nobody's business, antenna, wings. It's transformative.
Share
Dana Thomas
05:14
It's just magical.
Share
Ari Shapiro
05:17
You can actually see the echoes of 20 years later,
Marvel Superhero
movies that would transform people into creatures that are clearly referencing things that he was doing in- What year was this?Share
Dana Thomas
05:31
'95. If somebody had wisened up out on the west coast and realized the potential of
Thierry Mugler
designing Marvel Comic
costumes for them wow zow, nothing would have ever looked the same.Share
Ari Shapiro
05:45
I guess they'll just have to tap his archives for inspiration.
Share
Dana Thomas
05:47
A million bucks.
Share
Ari Shapiro
05:49
That's
Dana Thomas
, fashion and culture journalist based in Paris,
remembering Manfred Thierry Mugler
with us, thank you so much.Share
Dana Thomas
05:56
Thank you.
Share
Ari Shapiro
05:57
Virgil Abloh
also wore many hats. He studied civil engineering and architecture, not fashion.Share
Booth Moore
06:06
He, you know, came up through pop culture, not through sort of traditional design channels. And he was very good at sort of bridging the gaps between different disciplines. He himself was a DJ and, you know, had a huge social media following before coming to fashion. And so he really kind of changed the image of what a fashion designer should be.
Share
Ari Shapiro
06:28
That's Booth Moore,
West Coast
executive editor of Women's Wear Daily
.Share
Booth Moore
06:32
Virgil
was a catalyst for a lot of what is now expected of the industry, and that it's slowly coming around to.Share
Ari Shapiro
06:41
"Abloh
was influenced by so much, "says The Washington Post's
Robin Givhan
,Share
Robin Givhan
06:46
He was influenced, not just by what we think of as a streetwear, which has kind of an athletic feel to it, but he was also influenced by, you know, sort of skater gear and Japanese street culture, and contemporary art. All of those things were sort of layered on top of each other in his work.
Share
Ari Shapiro
07:08
And he refused to be put into a box.
Share
Robin Givhan
07:11
There is a lesson that he leaves, it is "Just because you didn't study fashion design, doesn't mean that you don't have a point of view as a designer. And just because you are a black man doesn't mean that the only thing that you know how to design or interested in designing our sneakers and hoodies. "
Share
07:37
This is
Andre Leon Talley
reporting live from Paris
.Share
Ari Shapiro
07:41
Headlines about
Andre Leon Talley's
death often described him as a pioneer, a trailblazer.Share
Robin Givhan
07:47
I think those terms are often thrown around a bit loosely, but I think in the case of
Andre Leon Talley
, they are really accurate.Share
Ari Shapiro
07:56
Tally entered the fashion industry in the 70s when it was an overwhelmingly white and rarefied space says,
Givhan
.Share
Robin Givhan
08:03
For a very long time, he was really the only black person, the only black man, at that level of creative director of a major glossy fashion publication. In his case
American Vogue
. I think people will continue to look back at his career and think about what it meant to have the weight of a community on your shoulders to some degree, because you're sort of the only one who has a seat at the table.Share
Ari Shapiro
08:38
Edward Enninful
, the first black editor in chief of British Vogue
, wrote on Instagram
, "R. I. P. Dearest Andre
. Without you, there would be no me. "Share
08:50
Givhan
says it might sound like a cliche, but Andre Leon Talley
really did open doors to the fashion industry.Share
Robin Givhan
08:56
He allowed people to see, to envision, something that did not exist before
Andre
appeared on the scene.Share
09:07
What I hope that I can impart, something beyond the dress or the belt, something beyond the label, something that has more long-lasting value-
Share
Ari Shapiro
09:18
Beyond the dress, the belt or the label.
Andre Leon Talley
, Thierry Mugler
and Virgil Abloh
each shaped the fantasy, beauty, and future of fashion.Share
09:32
You're listening to Consider This from
NPR
. I'm Ari Shapiro
.Share
Break
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Ari Shapiro
Robin Givhan
Dana Thomas
Booth Moore