PARIS – Mugler has appointed Miguel Castro Freitas as its new inventive director, confirming a WWD report on March 17 that the Paris vogue home had its eye on the seasoned, however under-the-radar, expertise.
Having held senior design roles at Sportmax, Dries Van Noten and Christian Dior Couture lately, Freitas succeeds Casey Cadwallader, who just lately wound up a seven-year tenure by dropping a glance ebook for his fall 2025 assortment, photographed in an attractive, sci-fi model by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.
Freitas is to start out April 1 and present his first assortment throughout Paris Vogue Week this fall, for the spring-summer 2026 season.
“Miguel lives and breathes the Mugler spirit,” Danièle Lahana-Aidenbaum, international model president of Mugler Vogue and Fragrances, stated in a launch issued Tuesday. “His deep understanding of Mugler’s DNA and his huge creativity and expertise made him a pure selection.”
Mugler has been managed since 2019 by French magnificence big L’Oréal, and is finest identified for its widespread fragrances Angel and Alien.
Adrian Corsin, managing director of Mugler Vogue, lauded Freitas’ “unbelievable expertise in tailoring and ‘flou,’ mixed with a imaginative and prescient that’s all his personal. His love and data of Mugler’s couture codes and heritage will likely be a limitless supply of storytelling to propel the home into the longer term.”
A Portuguese nationwide and a 2004 womenswear graduate of Central Saint Martins, Freitas labored at Julie Verhoeven, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy and Lanvin earlier in his profession.
In a singular coincidence, Freitas was a dancer in his youth, echoing the background of Mugler founder Manfred Thierry Mugler, who died in 2022 at age 73.
Mannequin strolling the runway of the Thierry Mugler spring 1997 RTW assortment. (Photograph by Man Marineau/Condé Nast by way of Getty Photographs)
Conde Nast by way of Getty Photographs
“It’s an honor to hitch the spectacular home of Mugler,” Freitas stated. “As one of many twentieth century’s nice couturiers, Mr. Mugler reimagined the facility and limits of vogue. Alongside the groups, I’m thrilled to convey my very own imaginative and prescient, story and emotion to this monumental heritage.”
WWD was the primary to report on Feb. 5 that Mugler and Cadwallader would half methods, signaling yet one more change amid a flurry of inventive switcheroos at European vogue homes.
An American who joined Mugler from Zits Studios, Cadwallader oversaw the evolution of the vogue model from the theatrics of its early days to a brand new definition of brand name codes on what celebrating the physique may imply.
He earned a popularity for bombastic runway shows of vogue fierceness – and throughout the pandemic, high-energy vogue movies, one in every of which opened with Megan Thee Stallion twerking in a denim ensemble decreased to mere chaps and straps, revealing her well-known derrière.
In a separate launch on Tuesday, Mugler stated Cadwallader could be stepping down on the finish of March. His subsequent transfer couldn’t instantly be discovered.
L’Oréal’s Lahana-Aidenbaum lauded Cadwallader’s “unbelievable contribution to Mugler. During the last 7 years, his distinctive imaginative and prescient has helped introduce Mugler to a brand new technology, all of the whereas celebrating core themes of empowerment, inclusivity and identification. On behalf of the group, we want Casey the utmost success in his subsequent ventures.”
Corsin added: “Casey has given the utmost dedication and fervour to reigniting Mugler. His exhibits, casting and creations captured the vitality of the second and honored the home’s storied legacy.”
For his half, Cadwallader referred to as it an “honor” to helm the home. “Mugler is like no different, and it was thrilling to lean into all that it may imply in in the present day’s tradition. I’m ceaselessly grateful to my group, collaborators and mates, whose assist and abilities made this imaginative and prescient come to life,” he stated.
Earlier than Cadwallader, David Koma, Nicola Formichetti and Rosemary Rodriguez additionally designed Mugler, which is synonymous with sharp tailoring, hourglass silhouettes and a futuristic sheen.
Mugler’s earlier proprietor Groupe Clarins ceased its money-losing, ready-to-wear enterprise in 2003, after which revived it once more in 2008.
A glance from Mugler’s fall 2025 assortment by Casey Cadwallader.
Inez & Vinoodh
