The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is pleased to present the first exhibition on French creator Thierry Mugler. Conceived, produced and put on tour by the MMFA, this exhibition will reveal the multiple universes of this undeniably artistic figure – visionary couturier, director, photographer and perfumer – in a retrospective of his work, especially his ready-to-wear and haute couture creations.

Presented in Montreal as a world premiere, this spectacular retrospective brings together more than 140 ensembles, most of them on display for the first time, created between 1973 and 2001, as well as many never-before seen accessories and stage costumes, clips and videos, archival documents and sketches. A hundred works by the greatest contemporary fashion photographers such as Avedon, Bourdin, Goude, LaChapelle, Newton, Ritts round out the exhibition. Each of the immersive galleries has been designed with artist-designers or set designers such as Michel Lemieux and Philipp Fürhofer.

Over the course of his career, Thierry Mugler has had many collaborations with filmmakers, architects such as Andrée Putman for his boutiques, and renowned photographers and artists, such as Helmut Newton, Dominique Issermann, Guy Bourdin, Herb Ritts, Peter Lindbergh, David LaChapelle and Pierre & Gilles, many of whose works will be presented in the exhibition. Thierry Mugler: Couturissime marks the Helmut Newton Foundation’s first participation, since its inauguration in Berlin in 2013, as a lender to an exhibition designed by a foreign museum.

As a photographer and filmmaker, he directed the emblematic 1990s video “Too Funky” by British singer George Michael, as well as short films starring actresses Isabelle Huppert and Juliette Binoche. Thierry Mugler has staged some of the most spectacular fashion shows of his time. He created the costumes for the staging of Shakespeare’s Macbeth by the Comédie-Française and the Festival d’Avignon, and the Zumanity show by the Cirque du Soleil. He has dressed a galaxy of stars, such as Diana Ross, David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Liza Minnelli and, in Quebec, Diane Dufresne and Céline Dion. He has also created costumes for Mylène Farmer and Beyoncé for their tours and videos.