The Magical Alchemy of Maison Margiela by Glenn Martens
Maison Margiela‘s Fall 2025 couture review
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Recycle the Future, Decayed Decadence, Rediscovered Artefacts, Amplify the Artisanal, Medieval Margiela
Martin Margiela has to be one of the industry’s most elusive, yet prolific creative forces of the last century, and yes, it appears that when we are talking about the most influential creative directors of our time we are now talking decades in multiples, as Margiela’s first show for spring/summer 1989 was shown in 1988, 37 years ago!
Having been on almost every moodboard of every avant-garde designer working today, from Demna to Raf Simons, the Margiela effect is an indelible part of fashion lore. And with the passing of the baton to Glenn Martens, who became the new creative director of the house in January of this year (following the stepping down of John Galliano who had served in the role for 10 years) it feels like the welcoming in of something new, yet familiar. Familiar in the sense that they share a cultural heritage (Margiela and Martens are both Belgian) and educational background (having both graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp). Martens who honed his craft with his own conceptual label Y/Project, before taking on the role of creative director at Diesel (where he pushed boundaries and disrupted denim), was able to get his feet wet in the world of couture when he was chosen as the spring 2022 guest designer by Jean Paul Gaultier. Elements of which could be seen in today’s debut outing – from the molten lava dresses in coloured metallics to the abstract florals encased in mesh.
As has been the trend of late, a social media teaser was uploaded to announce the upcoming show, and a few days ago what appeared to be an antique spoon, camouflaged under layers of an equally ancient floral print, was being unearthed and restored to its former glory. Replicas of said spoon were also to become the shows invitation, hinting at ideas of – preservation? Peeling away layers? Shrouding? Camouflage? Well, as the show was unveiled it would become apparent that all of the above were to be key elements of the designers masterclass in the ‘Artisanal’, by way of ‘medieval architecture and [the] atmosphere of Flanders and The Netherlands’ according to todays notes.
It should be noted that the world of Maison Margiela, whether it be ready-to-wear or couture has always faced into a different kind of customer. One who breaks with convention or who, you might say, is not interested in ‘consuming’ fashion at all in the traditional sense, but instead is seeking a conceptual exchange when it comes to their sartorial choices. As Martin Margiela was once quoted as saying “My clothes appeal to women of a certain mindset rather than of a specific age or physique”, and in todays debut what we got was definitely not your Grandmothers couture.
Set in a number of inter-connected rooms making up the shows-space, walls were covered in dishevelled paper prints, patchworked together haphazardly to depict a grand salon, baroque artwork or forest landscapes, but all in a state of decay. It reflected the collection which took place at Le Centquartre-Paris, whose former incarnation as a municipal undertakers was a fitting gesture.
Looking back to the very first Maison Margiela show in ’89, as the current creative director no doubt did, the theme of shrouding models faces with masks (an original Margiela-ism to amplify anonymity – and ‘shift the focus from face to craft’ – has been seen throughout the years and was continued by Marten’s predecessor John Galliano, whose ‘Porcelain Skin’ created by Pat McGrath for his final show became a viral sensation) was a throwback that the designer attempted to make his own. Utilising cellophane, discarded costume jewellery, collaged fabric, an homage to his dog Murphy and another reference to that antique spoon seen in the show teaser.
The two conflicting ideas of preservation and the peeling away of layers to unearth something that was once decadent were two of the leading concepts that were used to acknowledge the houses’ inner-workings and archive and his way of presenting his proposition for the way forward. The shrouding in plastic of the opening looks (see also the fall/winter 1992 collection where plastic garment covers were moulded to the models with scotch tape, and was part of a career-long exploration of giving the mundane meaning through unexpected transformation) to the leather jacket ‘patchworked from eighteen upcycled cognac leather jackets’ that appeared as if in a state of decomposition, the tattered feathers and the collaged trompe l’oeil prints (referencing the ‘brushstrokes of the symbolist painter Gustave Moreau’) coming apart at the seams to the ghost-like veiled bodies mimicking marble statues were as if a commentary on the times we are living through, and the solutions we should be looking to are a death to decadence and the decay of ostentatious wealth. There was a subtle message of preserve the past and recycle the future, while finding beauty in everyday and found objects, whether from the archive, a flea market, or an attic.
This is why in his debut collection there was a keen sense that Martens understood this as one of the foundations of the brand, imbuing each look with the air of an artefact, as if each had lived and breathed, in another life, before today. And yet throughout, it was testament to his turn as a couturier in 2022, that the artisanal was never forgotten, an ‘aged-gold oscillating duchess woven with metal threads’ dress with heart-shaped skirt looked as if it were formed of lava, the surface of a floor-length dress decorated with ‘warped plastic flowers and hand-painted heat-moulded perspex leaves posing as blown glass’, birds wings delicately formed in silk tulle encased a sheath dress, and a hood-like collar was so expertly encrusted with discarded (according to the show notes ‘deadstock costume jewellery’) embellishments you couldn’t decipher where body and bodice began.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
Concluding the debut at the post-show drinks a drop of hundreds of multi-coloured balloons was as if a physical manifestation of the weight which must have lifted from Martens shoulders now that his debut has been crossed off the imaginary list that the industry is keeping score on. It felt like a celebration, and rightly so, as the new creative director has managed the impossible in propelling a highly influential house forward, while nodding to Margiela-isms, wowing a notoriously hard to please crowd and commenting on the current climate in which couture operates within – albeit in a subtle way.
There was also a recognition of the number of hands which touch and craft each collection, as the atelier team lined the exit to give the guests a standing ovation as they departed into the early evening sun, satisfied that they had witnessed something magical.
