Who would you call the most mysterious designer of the 21st century and a true visionary in fashion? We think it’s Martin Margiela. His influence on fashion is undeniable and tremendous. Arguably, at least 50% of things we see on the runway today were once proposed by him. Let’s discuss a few curious facts about the designer in today’s digest. Keep scrolling!
Margiela was the first one who decided to cover the faces of models. He did that to make the visitors pay closer attention to the garments – all eyes had to be on the collection only. And yes, Balenciaga and Vetements borrowed the trick from Margiela. Demna Gvasalia, who is now a creative director of Balenciaga, worked in Maison Margiela in the past. He has borrowed a few ideas from the brand before, so it’s no surprise the concept of anonymity has also been introduced to Balenciaga.
Martin Margiela also remained anonymous. He didn’t give interviews and never came out to make a bow at the end of the shows. He even was absent in his own portrait: when Annie Leibovitz came to take pictures of the designer for Vogue in 2001, he left his chair empty and his team posing without him. The product is more important than its creator.
Anonymity was seen on the labels as well. Logomania was dominating in fashion but Margiela refused to put any names on the labels. He decided to use white strips of fabric and secure them in place with four white slanted stitches so that people could enjoy clothes without any reference to the brand. Today, there is still no brand name on Maison Margiela clothes, just the collection numbers.
Upcycling and rational consumption are trendy today but Martin Margiela was doing it 40 years ago before it was cool. He used to thrift clothes, disassemble them, and then construct them again to dissect the way vintage clothes were made. He even created a whole Replica collection out of old clothes. The labels featured the time and place of origin.
In 1994, Margiela went further and released a collection featuring garments from his previous collections, just painted in gray.
Oversized fit was also actively used by Margiela before it was popular. All fashion designers around him forced figure-hugging silhouettes and sexuality, but Margiela proposed wearing oversized clothes. Back then, they didn’t become a thing – it happened a few decades later. In fact, we should thank Demna Gvasalia for that. He was right on time with the trend.
Martin Margiela took deconstruction to a whole new level and made the concept of deconstruction the heart of his brand. For instance, a sweater made of socks is one of the most iconic items by Maison Margiela. He even released the instructions on how to make one yourself using eight pairs of socks.
Unconventional invitations to the shows were originally Maison Margiela’s thing. Today, many brands go out of their way to invite guests to the shows in an unusual way. Margiela did that first, too. He hated good old printed invitations. In 1989, he posted an invitation to his show in the newspaper. In 1990, his invitations were drawn by kids.
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