Published
October 2, 2025
Paris enjoyed yet another debut Thursday: Miguel Castro Freitas’ respectful couture interpretation of Mugler, along with two radically different visions of glamour by fellow Americans – Daniel Roseberry of Texas and Rick Owens of California.
Mugler: Reeking of glamour in La République
Thursday’s big debut was by Miguel Castro Freitas at Mugler, who invited guests down into an underground parking garage near La République. But if the location was gloomy, the show reeked of glamor.
Miguel joined Mugler with an impressive CV, and there were dollops of his various stints with many major houses and designers – fantasy cocktails with echoes of John Galliano, and strict tailoring from his days at Raf Simons’ Dior.
Though, above all, this was a couture-worthy interpretation of Mugler, that harked back to the early ’90s when Thierry exploded into haute couture after his beginnings as a ready-to-wear creator. And to a decade later, when Mugler staged truly revolutionary aviary collections.
Miguel’s most beautiful looks riffed on that – two birds of paradise, beguilingly constructed feathered jackets and skirts, showing a designer very much in charge of his atelier. Made in collaboration with Maison Février, a particular genius French feather resource located above the Moulin Rouge.
Miguel’s skilful draping of second-skin leathers in ruched cocktails and gowns completed with leather flowers was boldly dramatic. As was the way he constructed moulded shoulders and necklines that sat off the torso, while his silicon suits with exaggerated hips were excellent.
At times, there was so much beige one could not help recalling he once worked for the Max Mara group. Albeit, leavened by a soupçon of lingerie and transparency to keep things racy, and a series of curtain dresses leaving multiple nipples exposed.
Castro Freitas joined Mugler in March, succeeding Casey Cadwallader, and his grander style eschewed the obsession with S&M that characterized his predecessor’s reign.
The house of Mugler is today controlled by beauty giant L’Oréal, and like most houses run by perfume corporations, the business direction is to emphasize red carpet, influencer and editorial coverage, and not to build a substantial ready-to-wear business.
In that sense, Castro Freitas’ collection seems very suitable. It had drama, polish and pizzazz. And a good front row with Naomi Watts, Eva Herzigová and Pamela Anderson, sporting a redhead look.
Rick Owens: Temple on a fountain
Rick Owens shows are more like works of performance art than mere displays of clothes. His latest spectacle on a cloudy Thursday afternoon turned out to be an epic event.
Returning to his preferred locale – the mammoth fountain of the Palais de Tokyo. And marching his gaunt and glam cast marching down a massive metal stairway right into the water. Dry ice drifting about, scores of speakers booming out Basstrologe’s dramatic remix of “Somebody to Love”, a pen to loyalty in romance. Starring the magnificent vocals of Grace Slick, the Acid Queen and greatest singer from the psychedelic era in California, Rick’s home state.
The show took place just meters away from “Temple of Love”, the bravura exhibition of Owens’ work currently being staged inside the Musée Galliera. Like his menswear show in June, which kicked off the retrospective, this collection was entitled “Temple”.
“This exhibition tracks the pursuit of glamour and sleaze that I was looking for on Hollywood boulevard, and eventually, improbably, ended up displaying in a Paris Museum. I have always thought of what I do as a fascination with the denseness of European aesthetic sophistication seen through a filter of American bluntness,” opined Rick in his program note.
In this very bold collection, the sophistication came in the out-there draping; surreally hung frocks; power-shoulder technical organza dresses; and the remarkable fabrics. Recycled nylon tulle embroidered with sequins; or veg-tanned heavyweight leathers crafted by London designer, Straytukay.
The bluntness in the slashed and fringed oversized leather pants worn with the house’s signature Perspex heeled jackboots ideal for walking in water and for stomping around to Grace Slick’s greatest anthem.
Schiaparelli: Dancing in the Dark
Daniel Roseberry entitled this spring/Summer 2026 collection “Dancer in The Dark” and it was very much his raciest, after-hours selection of clothes.
There is a new refined sexiness present on European runways, and Roseberry’s latest ideas seem very much of the now.
His tailoring was strict, suggesting a domineering female, authoritative and powerful. Snug, neat mess jackets and pencil skirts, exposing midriff – a current rage. Leather second-skin cocktails were embossed around the bosom, others were perforated showing lots of flesh.
Several of Daniel’s models seemed to get entangled in a series of crushed satin looks that didn’t really work, before he got back on track with some beautiful white transparent jersey looks, that founder Elsa would surely have loved.
Quoting Yves Saint Laurent, who called Schiap’, “a comet illuminating the Paris skyline, determined to dominate.” Roseberry clearly wants his clients to do the same thing.
All the way to the hyper-sheer polkadot chiffon jumpsuit in which Kendall Jenner prowled around the after-midnight set. Build inside the top floor of the currently under restoration Pompidou Center, the black carpet twisting, illuminated by theatrical floor lighting – giving the proceedings a faintly diabolical air. And all the better for that.
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