The guest list was only 200 people. The collection was short 27 looks. And the designer making his runway debut was a relative unknown: Casey Cadwallader, who worked behind the scenes at Acne Studios before taking the helm of Mugler last year. So what was Cardi B, a one-woman celebrity tsunami, doing in the front row?

There’s no denying that since showing a handful of looks in an intimate presentation with editors in New York in May, Cadwallader has brought Mugler back into the public conversation in a way that it hadn’t been since Lady Gaga walked for the brand back in 2011, when Nicola Formichetti was creative director.

Gigi and Bella Hadid wore Cadwallader’s designs: Gigi looking demure in a bubblegum pink jersey dress with drawstring details, Bella in bionic Barbie mode at the Harper’s Bazaar Icons party at New York Fashion Week her corseted nude jumpsuit sadly overshadowed by Cardi B’s now-infamous clash with Nicki Minaj