Thierry Mugler’s Les Cowboys collection premiered in 1992 and was monumental for various reasons. Many of the pieces in this collection were one of the first explorations of rubber in luxury ready-to-wear. The collection was also influential in pop culture, with the famous Harley-Davidson bustier being featured in George Michael’s “Too Funky,” which helped popularize the designer. This season was the one which came before Mulger’s first official haute couture collection, being granted the title of “invited member” by the Chambre syndicale de la Couture.
Thierry Mugler was born in Strasbourg, France in 1948, and began designing for different fashion houses in the 1960s before releasing his own first collection in 1973. By the 1980s he became incredibly influential in the fashion world, pioneering the padded shoulder look of the period, as well as making latex a staple of fetish wear. He is generally known for his campy and vibrant pieces, as well as his pieces impracticality. Even in his ready-to-wear collections are incredibly expensive purely on the basis of how extravagant they are, and are typically given away to friends, family, or fans of his work.
One of Mugler’s most famous pieces is the Harley-Davidson bustier, which was first presented in this collection. It is made of a mixture of plastic, metal, and Plexiglass, an innovative combination. The top featured a ram’s skull centered on a fire pattern, which was meant to make it resemble the edgy biker aesthetic. The piece is currently owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who interpreted it as something both potentially misogynistic and feminist. The idea of equating the body of a motorcycle to the body of a woman, with handles being placed around the waist, can have sexist connotations, implying that a woman is someone to be handled. However, while being modeled by Niki Taylor, the handles were grabbed by the wearer, indicating that the one wearing the top could symbolize the woman steering and remaining in control of herself and her body.
