Understanding MARGIELA

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

TEXT by BERENICE LELPEUVRE PHOTOGRAPHY by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

Martin Margiela graduated from The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1979. He began as a freelancer before working at Jean Paul Gaultier’s studio as his assistant between 1985 and 1987, and then a year later he launched his label under his own name: Maison Martin Margiela.

In a time where the trends were stilettos and wide shoulders, bright colors and gold jewelry; Martin showed a vision of fashion that focused on a concept rather than appearance. His first show in 1989 took place in a café in Paris, where he debuted chunky heels and veils over the model’s faces so as to focus on the garment instead of who was wearing it. On the runway, pants with raw hems [exhibited] the process of the pieces being made, 18th century jabots were used as bracelets instead of around the neck, and removable sleeves and backward skirts became one of the many staples of the House. When most designers would hide the darts [on a garment], Margiela was exposing them—placing them on the outside, where it was unmistakably visible. It was only his first show but the house established itself as a powerful and disruptive one.

Margiela introduced a movement called “Deconstruction,” which focuses on the importance of material, the process of creating, experimenting with product, and appreciation of the imperfect temporality of clothing. Margiela’s philosophy is to re-use existing clothes to create his own version— repurposing gloves, socks, belts or even plastic bags. A part of his vision was making clothes out of something that are typically not used for their purpose; wigs, advertisement posters and porcelain plates were a few unique pieces that were part of “artisanal” lines or “line zero”. His conceptual approach of fashion led him to show and deconstruct every step of the process of fabricating a garment and revealing raw hems, stitches, patterns later on the runway. In a way, he glorified the process [of making clothes] and made the unfinished look finished. Authenticity was a part of Margiela’s DNA. He wanted everything to look “as if the women could have put it together themselves,” as said by Ward Stegerhoek, Margiela’s hairstylist for the Spring/Summer 1990 show. This simple quote can define the entire Margiela universe. He wanted to make fashion accessible for everyone and everywhere— something that was attainable, wearable and not limited to the elite.

As a kid, Martin’s first designs were on dolls which made him explore the idea of proportion. He made oversize pieces or doll-sized clothes and adapted them to the human body. He played with our senses and the body of his models by painting patterns or masks on them. Lest we forget his first show, where a faint sunburn recreated the outline of a v-neck t-shirt and questioned the temporality and memory of clothes. Instead of creating new spaces for his shows, he used already existing places which was atypical for the time. In the 90s, most of the fashion shows were held in the center of Paris, but Margiela wanted more authentic places. The best example is when he presented his third collection, the Spring/ Summer 1990 collection, held in a playground in the Parisian suburbs. Children at the school next to the playground created the invitations for the show, which led to having five hundred unique invitations that were sent to the guests. While some of the kids were front row at the show, others were walking down the runway with the models and even ended up on their shoulders. This was a time where a production like this had never been done before and the fashion industry was in awe.

Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 2009.

Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 1992.

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