A Mugler Muse: Erica Vanbriel On The SS98 ‘Nipple Ring’ Dress
A conversation with the woman behind one of Mugler's greatest runway looks.
Published
The Clutch is a monthly column written by the fashion aficionado, Hunter Shires, better known online as High End Homo. Keeping up with the ever-evolving fashion landscape can be a daunting task for many, as sifting through archives of runway shows, editorial campaigns, and pop culture requires a significant time investment. Hunter will give you the 411, and is dedicated to doing all the dirty work for you.
With summer happening outside our bedroom windows, I wanted to lean into a specific sheer gown that has not left my mind since the moment I saw it. Erica Vanbriel for Thierry Mugler’s Spring 1998 Couture Show is fashion history's finest. You might as well call her the Thierry Mugler muse.
After going to the Thierry Mugler Couturissime Exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, I got up close and personal with the look I’ve only seen through my lit up phone screen. Erica Vanbriel is a Belgian model and actress. She wore a nipple ring draped dress with a black sheer cape tied together at the neck that created a V like shape accessorized with stacked pearls with her hair in a voluminous salon style. There was this aloof sexiness Erica displayed walking down the runway, you could tell the room was encapsulated by her essence. Let’s ask her about it herself.
Hunter: Hello Erica, where are you speaking with me from today?
Erica: I’m in Belgium right now visiting family, but I live in Canada.
Hunter: What was your relationship like with Mr. Mugler?
Erica: Well, I think I started there when I was 16 or 17. He really liked me, so I started working at the house as a fit model. With every big show, I was hired including the Cirque D'Hiver Fall/Winter 1995 show which was the year of Mugler with James Brown and Jerry Hall. He wanted me for every show, and fit the clothes to me. He was really kind and nice to me, lol I even had a crush on him.
Hunter: I mean who doesn’t have a crush on him? He’s my lockscreen on my phone right now.
Erica: I started going to Paris for months on end. I wasn't living there, but it felt like I was living there.
Hunter: What were the hours?
Erica: If it was the off-season, I think we would finish around 10 or 11pm. But if it was before a show, we would be there til 5 in the morning. And then the next morning, we would have to be there at 7:30am.
Hunter: Oh my god, the dedication. How did the nipple ring dress come to be?
Erica: I had my nipples pierced and I guess the word spread very fast. Next thing I knew, Thierry said I have a dress for you and I’m going to hang it off your nipples. It’s going to be a light muslin material. Thierry got really excited, and then I got really excited. Thierry thought it was a great idea, and he was aiming for a greek goddess style.
Hunter: The gay child in me is screaming. Did you have any say in the construction of the dress? How heavy or light it would be?
Erica: I didn't have a say in it. But I did tell him that it would have to be light, but he knew that it would have to be extremely light because he had nipple piercings himself. And it was extremely light, and so it was made so it would sit on my hips so that the whole train wouldn’t pull so much on my nipples.
Hunter: What was the atmosphere backstage and the energy like walking out onto the runway? Prior to the runway, were you nervous if you were going to step on your dress? I feel like one wrong move and you could have ripped your piercings out in the most painful way possible.
Erica: It was funny because not everyone knew the dress was attached to my nipples. People pulled from the back of the dress, and I was like no don’t do that!! I think I have pretty sturdy nipples, so it worked out. I had a model even step on the back of my train right before I walked out. It hurt a little bit, but it wasn’t too crazy. I distinctly remember the silence when I stepped out on the runway, it was very serene, and you could hear people talking about it as copious cameras flashed in my eyes. It was a little bit nerve racking, and I remember thinking oh my goodness here I am with my boobs out. But on the other hand, it is Mugler, it's sexy, it's hot, it’s daring, and it's out there. Mugler had my back you know?
Hunter: Mugler always will, and he has that artistic vision which is always appreciated. It’s never ‘I want to show a female’s breasts’, but it's all about the art of it.
Erica: He wanted it to come off very elegant, goddess-like, and classy.
Hunter: And YALL DELIVERED!!! To call this dress sexy is a huge understatement, and I imagine you felt very sexy wearing it. What makes you feel sexy now?
Erica: Black winged eyeliner and my leather pants. I feel really sexy in those, as well as my pearls.
Hunter: Would you consider yourself a Mugler Muse? What did you learn from your days at Mugler?
Erica: I guess I would be a muse, I was his muse because he would take me everywhere. We would go to his store openings in Strasbourg where he was born. Thierry took me and Laurence Pellagot when we used to model together. So, he would take us in a limo to Northern France. We were his closest models that he liked a lot. I would say that a Mugler muse is best staying true to herself, to not let fashion rule your life, feel feminine and sexy, or however you want to be. Be yourself.
Hunter: What do you think of modern day Mugler? Would you be at all interested in working with the current Mugler house if Casey Cadwallader asked you to walk one of his shows?
Erica: I think so, but I’m not keeping up with fashion as much anymore. But you know, when you work with someone like Thierry Mugler it's hard to like much other fashion. He was such a perfectionist and had such a good eye for detail and feminine fashion that it's hard to like anything else truly.
Hunter: MOOD, I feel like Thierry put women’s bodies on a pedestal which is why I was so drawn to his work. It was all so meaningful. Looking at the runway video of you in the show, there is definitely an ease and a fierceness to your walk and the way you work the garments. How often do you find yourself tapping into the Mugler Woman in you?
Erica: Umm, yeah sometimes when I go on a date or when I go dancing. For sure when I go dancing is when it comes out most!
Hunter: Thank you so much for sharing your stories about your experiences, Mr. Mugler, and the show. Have a great rest of your day!
My conclusion: Thierry Mugler is no stranger to highlighting the female anatomy, and this dress will quite literally last a lifetime as it's in the Thierry Mugler Couturissime at the Brooklyn Museum and encapsulates the essence of his characteristic signatures; classy, refined, sexy, and female-first. Sheer dresses are having a moment on the runways at recent YSL shows, red carpets, on the streets as of late, and I don’t see it going anywhere this summer as temperatures rise and people continue to dress heavily skin centric.