M
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Maison Martin Margiela
Maison Martin Margiela
Maiso
Fashion sometimes follows paradoxical paths, advancing in a kind of zigzag direction as the
result of the eruption of contradictory trends, as if with a sudden swerve it sought to leave
the beaten path and dart off into uncharted territory, as if with the end of the journey ap-
proaching, it decided, suddenly, to change direction and continue further down the road.
In this play of continuity and rupture, harmony and questioning, what is constantly brew-
ing is change, evolution. Some follow fashion; others defi ne it.
Among the latter is Martin Margiela. At the core of the fi rm Maison Martin Margiela is
what appears to be a manifesto: the dissolution of the individual within the group—collec-
tive work as opposed to the cult of personality. Not even an interview, nor a portrait or a
single concession to the star system. e designs of Martin are free of rhetorical elements.
His work is characterized by rawness, revealing without artifi ce the very essence of fashion
itself, an aesthetic stance to which this designer continues to be deeply committed.
Born in Belgium and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Martin
worked for fi ve years as a freelance designer and two more for Jean-Paul Gaultier before
starting his own company. From the start, his spirit was clearly diff erent. His unstitched,
frayed, distorted garments made Martin one of the most important names in fashion in
the late 80s and early 90s. For this reason, Martin is an indispensable artist in the world of
current fashion. Because mastery of structure is required in order to deconstruct. Because
few designers know which thread needs to be pulled in order to strip a garment down to
its essentials.
Photography courtesy of Maison Martin Margiela
416
Maison Martin Margiela
e research carried out by Maison
Martin Margiela is apparent in
“Artisanal”: reduced work teams whose
objective is making new garments out
of devalued materials and giving them,
as a result, a new value and a new life.
Photography by Marina Faust
417
Maison Martin Margiela
Photography by Marina Faust
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