More than 200 pieces spanning the designer’s career, including never-before-seen objects, drawings, garments, and personal memorabilia, will be offered in Paris this July
Martin Margiela is opening the doors to his personal archive for the first time, partnering with Maurice Auction and Kerry Taylor Auctions on a landmark sale that will offer more than 200 lots tracing his creative journey from 1984 through 2008.
Taking place on July 9 in Paris, the auction marks what organizers describe as an unprecedented moment in fashion history: the first time a living designer has directly collaborated with an auction house to sell a portion of their personal archive. The collection encompasses photographs, sketches, garments, objects, and prototypes accumulated throughout Margiela’s influential career, alongside works created more recently during the pandemic.
In a statement accompanying the sale, Margiela explained that years of transporting archival material and lending pieces to exhibitions prompted him to reconsider their future. Ultimately, he decided to release part of the collection in the hope that it would find new homes among collectors and institutions.
The auction offers a rare glimpse into the designer’s creative universe through deeply personal artifacts. Among the highlights is one of Margiela’s own white cotton “blouse blanche” aprons, worn within the Maison Martin Margiela studio and emblematic of the house’s anonymous creative philosophy. Also included is a white-painted telephone from the late 1980s, reflecting the designer’s deliberate rejection of the dark, minimalist interiors then dominating fashion and design culture.
Several objects tied to Margiela’s most enduring creations will also be offered. A pair of graffiti-covered Tabi boots from 1991, created during an exhibition at Paris’ Palais Galliera, documents the evolution of what would become one of fashion’s most recognizable silhouettes. Elsewhere, recreated Barbie dolls dressed in miniature versions of Maison Martin Margiela looks revisit a project originally exhibited in 1989 before the original dolls disappeared. A selection of miniature garments produced between 2018 and 2024 reflects Margiela’s ongoing fascination with scale and his desire to revisit key designs from his career.
Adding an intimate dimension to the sale is the inclusion of pieces from the wardrobe of Margiela’s late mother, Léa Bouchet. The auction will feature approximately 60 Hermès garments, accessories, bags, and shoes dating from Margiela’s tenure as creative director of the French luxury house between 1997 and 2003. The designer frequently gifted these pieces to his mother, who supported his ambitions from an early age.
An exhibition preceding the sale will run from July 4 through July 8 at 71 rue de la Fontaine au Roi in Paris. Curated by longtime friend Bob Verhelst, the presentation is conceived as an “unwrapping” of the archive, emphasizing direct encounters with objects that have largely remained unseen by the public. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the materiality, fragility, and personal significance of the pieces in a setting inspired by an early 20th-century workshop.
For a designer whose career has often been defined by anonymity and distance from the spotlight, the sale offers an unusually personal look at the objects, ideas, and memories that shaped one of fashion’s most influential creative voices.
