Kylie Jenner is Rolling in Vintage Mugler

Kylie Jenner loves nothing more than to flex her fashion access, and recently, she’s hit a real stride when it comes to taking advantage of her rolodex. At the Acne Studios spring 2023 show earlier this fall, she wore a dress as it walked the runway, and for Halloween, she commissioned Glenn Martens to make her a Jean Paul Gaultier couture gown. But it was Jenner’s latest move that may have been the most impressive, as she was able to do something that her sister, Kim Kardashian, couldn’t even pull off without getting steeped in controversy. Jenner just plucked a look right out of a museum and wore it to an event without anyone batting an eye.

On Tuesday night, Jenner flew to New York City to attend the opening of Thierry Mugler: Couturissime at the Brooklyn Museum. The event was filled with celebrities like Lola Leon, Laverne Cox, and Julia Fox, but it was Jenner who was granted the honor of having Mugler’s creative director, Casey Cadwallader, walk her through the exhibit. On their tour—which Jenner documented on her Instagram story—they stopped at a spot in the exhibit where a dress was clearly missing, a plaque that read, “Temporarily off view” in its place. “This is where they took my look for tonight,” Jenner said while showing off the display.

Jenner’s borrowed look was courtesy of Thierry Mugler’s spring 1997 couture collection. The show was heavily inspired by the insect world, with models walking the runway looking like chic beetles with antennas popping out of their fascinators and glasses that no doubt influenced Demna’s buglike eyewear for Balenciaga. Webbed bodysuits, and tops that resembled pinchers flitted by before a final look of a beautiful velvet halter dress complete with butterfly wings closed out the show. Jenner’s ensemble, though, represents another moment in a caterpillar’s metamorphosis. She wore a look from the collection which encapsulated her in a white satin cocoon with a completely sheer, webbed bodysuit peeking through underneath. She finished off the ensemble with black pumps and her hair half-up in pinwheel curls. At one point, Jenner even stepped onto the display, taking the place of the mannequin she de-dressed for her look that evening.

But she wasn’t done there. Following her tour around the exhibit, it was time to walk a red carpet to celebrate the opening, and for that, Jenner needed a new look. This time, the singer slipped into a dress from Mugler’s fall 1995 couture collection, one that included some of the designer’s most famous pieces, including his robot suit and the oyster shell gown worn by Cardi B wore to the Grammys in 2019. Jenner’s choice, however, was less camp and more glamorous—a black corseted number with a horned neckline and a formfitting skirt that erupted into feathers and embellishments as it reached her knees and the floor. She wore the matching feather-adorned gloves with the dress, and topped things off with an incredible headpiece from the 1999 couture show, which saw strips of pave diamonds traveling up Jenner’s forehead and into a sunburst formation.

Jenner is a big fan of Mugler—both Thierry and Cadwallader’s iterations. Likely, she gained an appreciation for the vintage pieces from her sister, Kim, who has been pulling from the archive for years now. Recently, though, Jenner herself has been on a vintage Mugler kick. Back in August, the reality star wore a motorcycle jacket from the designer’s spring 1990 collection, and just last week, she wore a dress from the same 1999 couture show that also debuted the headpiece to the CFDA Awards. In fact, that dress is now on display at the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibit, and Jenner stopped to take a photo with it. “I mean, it looks better on you,” Cadwallader laughed, to which Jenner, of course, agreed.