French fashion designer Thierry Mugler, known for silhouettes with broad-shouldered and cinch-waisted that inspired fashion in the 1980s, died aged 73 of natural causes.

"We are devastated to announce the passing of Mr. Manfred Thierry Mugler on Sunday, January 23rd, 2022," a post on Mugler's official Instagram page announced.

Manfred Thierry Mugler, for all known only as Thierry Mugler, was born in Strasbourg, France, in 1948. He was a performer and by the age of 14 was a dancer at the Opera du Rhin's ballet company, before studying at the School of Decorative Arts. He also was an acrobat and fashion model. He arrived in Paris at the age of 20 and created his label “Café de Paris” in 1973.

He founded his eponymous fashion brand a year later.

In the 1990s, Mugler became famous for its fragrances. Angel and Alien remain today a bestseller. Mugler sold the rights to his name to Clarins in 1997.

Mugler retired from fashion in the early 2000s. In 2010 Nicola Formichetti was hired as creative director to relaunch the brand. In 2013 it was the turn of David Coma, succeeded by Casey Cadwallader in 2017.

The designer dressed costumes for Beyonce, Lady Gaga, David Bowie (the singer wore a Mugler skirt for Saturday Night Live in 1979 and later married the model Iman in a suit designed by the French designer), George Michael, and in 2019 created Kim Kardashian's Met Gala look full of crystals. But also the black dress that Robert Redford buys for Demi Moore in Indecent Proposal in 1993 was a Mugler iconic creation.

"A visionary whose imagination as a couturier, perfumer and image-maker empowered people around the world to be bolder and dream bigger every day," that is how Thierry Mugler was defined in a post on his personal Instagram account.