Paris Fashion Week: New day for Mugler brand

It’s a new day for Thierry Mugler’s namesake brand, whose heyday was in the 1980s and ‘90s, and which is now known simply as Mugler.

David Koma, the buzzy London-based designer and new artistic director of Mugler, showed his first collection for the house Saturday afternoon. And it was an auspicious start.

Koma knows his way around sculptural, body-con dresses, which he designs for his own collection, and which have been worn by everyone from Miley to Rihanna. So it was a natural fit. But he also knows his way around a tailored suit, as evidenced Saturday, which should be money in the bank judging from the number of iPhone pics Neiman Marcus creative director Ken Downing was snapping.

For his new gig, Koma paid homage to Mugler in spirit, but not in body, meaning that he touched on the brand’s past love affair with tailoring, sculptural bodices, chrome, even flames (remember those original Mugler flame corsets?), but without the hyper-shoulders, fetish and bondage bits. Koma’s take was minimalist, athletically-charged and in line with the way women dress today.

The look: Sexy sophisticate.

Key pieces: Body con dresses with cutouts and subtle decoration in the form of chrome coils. Beautifully tailored tuxedos, in white and black, worn over bodysuits revealing a flash of collar bone, stomach or hip. Flame orange midi pencil skirt with ice blue midriff baring top. Sheath dress with abstract chirascuro effect reminiscent of flames. Gowns expertly fit, offering a heady dose of leg and midriff, but thankfully no side boob.

The verdict: Sensual without being vulgar. These are the kind of clothes that women who work out constantly (ahem, Hollywood) should be dying to wear.