The House of Mugler unveils The Commander, its Fall-Winter 2026 campaign starring Vivian Jenna Wilson, photographed by Robi Rodriguez in a series of cinematic tableaux where power, desire and eroticism collide.
The campaign showcases the second runway collection from Miguel Castro Freitas’ Trilogy of Glorified Clichés: an ongoing exploration of the archetypes that have defined the Mugler universe and its exaltation of womanity. The mythology of power dressing becomes armour and performance.
“Power dressing has always been part of Mugler’s language, but I wanted to look beyond the obvious idea of authority”, says Castro Freitas. “What interests me is the seduction of power – why we are attracted to these symbols, and what happens when we decide to take them back for ourselves.”
Through Rodriguez’s lens, authority takes on an art-house sensibility: theatrical, hedonistic and faintly dangerous. Within this world, Wilson is commanding, observing, obeying, refusing. Across the campaign, vulnerability and authority are not dire opposites; neither submission nor control. Each can be performed, exchanged, weaponised or enjoyed as ultimate freedom. The campaign returns to questions embedded in the collection itself: Who commands? Who obeys? Who is watching? And what if ultimately, instinct refuses the command?
Beneath the polished surface, something feral persists. Castro Freitas exposes the appetite beneath the etiquette, where desire is not to be disciplined but unleashed. Freedom is not
the absence of power but its most absolute expression. And in this vision, domination is pushed into theatrical excess, allowing precisely beauty, eroticism and even absurdity to occupy the same frame. Power belongs to the one who refuses to be contained.
