Swedish model Emma Wiklund pens a personal homage to the designer and frequent collaborator Manfred Thierry Mugler a month after his passing
“I met Thierry – or Manfred, as he preferred to be called – my first spring in Paris as a model in 1989. It was a normal casting, like any other,” Swedish model Emma Wiklund – formerly Sjöberg – says. Her voice drawls, slow as she recollects the exact moment. “It was either spring or autumn,” she concludes. “When you’re a new model, it’s essential. At least it was back when I started out. You’d show up with your book and hope you’d get booked.”
Swedish Emma Wiklund was one of the original supermodels from the 1990s, modelling for most Maisons – from Versace to Dior and Dolce & Gabbana. “But for me, Mugler’s shows were always a favourite,” she says. The spectacularity of Mugler’s runway shows, reminiscent of cabaret productions, appealed to the model. “He wanted you to really work his clothes. It was a combination of it all, the music, the set. The models, the hair and makeup, everything was supposed to be part of the look,” Wiklund says. “He wanted you to transform into this creature he had created.”