With this collaboration, L’Oréal Paris renews its tradition of fashion-makeup tie-ups. Previous collabs were with Balmain (2017), Isabel Marant (2018), Karl Lagerfeld (2019) and Elie Saab (2021). “Each of these collaborations allow us to present one aspect of the brand’s DNA,” says Monteil. “With Mugler, we are exploring this idea of elevation and transformation. The power of L’Oréal Paris is to transform women through skincare, hair colouring, haircare and of course makeup, which is undoubtedly the most extreme tool of expression. And Mugler is an extremely transformative brand that empowers women visually and emotionally.”
It helps that Mugler is part of the L’Oréal Group portfolio. “But if it hadn’t been a creative no-brainer, both for Mugler and for us, it wouldn’t have happened,” says Monteil.
Mugler managing director Adrian Corsin echoes the sentiment. “There are many similar values between Mugler and L’Oréal Paris: femininity, empowerment, diversity, transformation,” he says. It’s also good timing, Corsin adds. New Mugler creative director Miguel Castro Freitas will make his debut during Paris Fashion Week. “As the makeup collection focuses on Mugler’s codes such as the power of glamour and metamorphosis, and the Muglerian archetypes — the femme fatale, the siren, the fantastical butterfly creature — it makes a perfect transition before the house starts a new story on 2 October.”
The makeup collection is supported by a campaign film shot by Colin Solal Cardo and starring L’Oréal Paris global ambassador Kendall Jenner. (Jenner walked the L’Oréal Paris runway show during Paris Fashion Week last year in a Mugler look.) Three looks worn by Jenner in the campaign are part of Mugler’s Re/Edit capsule, a collection of re-edition Mugler looks from the archives, slated for release in September: 1998’s tailleur lingerie, 1997’s tailleur chimère and 1998’s corset Jeu de Paume. The fourth campaign look features the fourreau papillon, the butterfly dress from ‘Les Insectes’ collection in 1997.
The Re/Edit capsule was somewhat of a transition collection between the departure of previous creative director Casey Cadwallader in March and the arrival of Castro Freitas. “We’ve celebrated the archives. We see these Re/Edit and makeup collections as a very strategic move: closing this chapter of revisiting the past, because starting in October, we’ll be focusing on the future,” says Corsin.