Kim Kardashian Brought Thierry Mugler Out of Retirement to Design Her Halloween Costume

Thierry Mugler, also known as Manfred, doesn’t come out of his semi-retirement for just anything. Of course, he emerged in 2019 to design Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala dress and now, she’s put him back to work yet again, this time for a Halloween costume. Yes, Kardashian got Mugler, who officially retired from the runway almost two decades ago, to dust off his designing chops so she could wear couture to go trick-or-treating.

Kardashian showed off her full look on Monday and, to be fair, this is no ordinary, Party City purchase. The costume, which Kardashian and Mugler are calling a “Cowbot” features a bra with a star motif, some booty shorts that include Mugler’s signature shell-like layering, some chaps, and boots with fin-like pieces protruding from the sides. Kardashian even has real hostlers with silver guns poking out to really up the fantasy. Kardashian topped off the look with a metallic hat that reflects back on to her, giving the beauty mogul an almost ethereal glow.

While the piece is a Mugler original designed for Kardashian, fashion Instagram page @HFTgroup pointed out that the cowbot look seems to combine two iconic moments in Mugler’s archives: cowboy motifs played up in his Spring 1992 ready-to-wear collection and the cyborg bodysuit, originally introduced at the Fall 1995 couture show, a version of which Cara Delevingne wore on the cover of British GQ in 2017.

Perhaps some Kardashian fans were expecting a costume designed by Demna Gvasalia of Balenciaga, considering Kardashian has been almost exclusively wearing the brand for a few weeks now. Or, even something relating to Fendi and the recently-announced collaboration with Skims. If we know anything about Kardashian, it’s that she will always take the opportunity to self-promote. Instead though, it seems like she had a bit more fun with her costume. Yes, it is still a couture piece that will now go down in Mugler’s archives, but it doesn’t seem to have any ulterior motive, which in a way, is refreshing. Maybe Kim just wanted to be a couture cowboy for the night.