Mugler's pre-fall 2026 campaign explores identity with natural intimacy
Saskia de Brauw and Rafael Pavarotti give Mugler’s pre-fall 2026 a softer edge, as Miguel Castro Freitas pushes identity over spectacle.
Mugler’s pre-fall 2026 campaign is the clearest sign yet that Miguel Castro Freitas wants the house to feel less like a machine for big nights out and more like a wardrobe people can actually live in. The new visual narrative for The Wardrobe of Identities Pre-Collection SS26 pairs Saskia de Brauw with Rafael Pavarotti’s camera and moves between glamazon polish and clothes that read as everyday, not costume.
Mugler frames the project as a seasonal exploration of timeless forms and transformative styles, built as a living wardrobe in motion. That language matters. The house is not just selling another flash of runway fantasy here; it is pitching clothing that can reveal, conceal and keep changing with the wearer. De Brauw’s presence drives that idea hard, with her singular face and sharp, composed presence used to suggest multiplicity rather than one fixed Mugler archetype.
The credits tell the story of the shift as plainly as the imagery does. Miguel Castro Freitas is the creative director, Rafael Pavarotti shot the campaign, Robbie Spencer styled it and Saskia de Brauw fronts it. That lineup brings the kind of controlled glamour Mugler is known for, but the mood is noticeably less hyper-charged than the house’s older spectacle-heavy playbook. The clothes are still sharp, still body-conscious in places, but the styling gives them room to breathe.
This softer campaign sits inside a broader 2026 reset for Mugler under Freitas. His Spring 2026 debut was described as a cerebral take on showgirl glamour, while his Fall 2026 collection leaned into the house’s legacy of power dressing through muses ranging from Joan of Arc to Joan Crawford. Even the teaser language kept that tension alive, calling the season Part II: The Commander in a trilogy titled A Trilogy of Glorified Clichés. The show was set for Paris on March 6, 2026 at 10 a.m. CET.
Taken together, the campaign and runway messaging point to a Mugler that is trying to widen the frame. The house still wants the sharp shoulder, the command, the transformation. But it is now selling those codes through a more durable proposition: clothes that can move from statement to staple without losing the brand’s bite.
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