Maison Martin Margiela Mens F/W 08.09 Paris

[Scott]

here we go

*catwalking.com

 

[Scott]

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[Scott]

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[gius]

Hmm...I'm trying to understand if this is Margiela's 0/10 artisinal collection..or his basic 10 collection for men. That barbed-wiire vest looks very artisinal???

I have heard from an amazing source (a shop owner who was one of the first boutiques to carry Margiela's first 10 collection...but they dropped the collection a few seasons later. For a long time, they didn't have the collection...but thankfully, they recently picked it up again. Anyway...the shop owner told me that after the Diesel buyout...the prices were raised much higher. I found that to be really ironic???...I mean, considering the Diesel Corp. wasn't suffering financially like Margiela once was when he was more independant, shouldn't the prices have gone down??...I mean..Diesel has the money to mass-produce Margiela's pieces. When Margiela was suffering, he didn't have the money to mass-produce..meaning, the pieces were more scarce and less available to the public. I'm completely lost about all this political stuff, now??

If anyone can help me to understand my situation....could someone please clarify???

I can't answer any of your questions
but I agree with you on the barbed-wire vest --it does look artisanal

 

[margielamike2004]

Hahaha...thanks Scott!!...Yeah I know he has 2 seperate collections...I've been onto Mr. Margiela since 1989.

I once worked at a boutique here in Boston that carried Margiela during the time when Margiela did not have a men's collection. His men's collection started 10 years after his first collection for women...hence, the reason for the number 10.

I have TONS of Margiela pieces...lots of his very early pieces from his early collections...like the sock-sweater...the denim vest that's been coated in hot pink paint...the see-through tribal/tattoo shirt, etc. Lots of his "vintage" stuff, when his pieces were being produced by a company called "Miss Deana"...not The Diesel Corp.

As far as how this men's collection is being represented..with the photocopies of the pieces standing in front of the non-models (hahahah)..it "looks" very artisinal!!!

Thanks Scott...I know you're only trying to help me out...and I TOTALLY appreciate it!!!

 

[Scott]

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[Scott]

i want to wear ALL of this! *swoon* those coats are supreme,really.

mike,so what was your question exactly? sorry i must've misread initially.

 

[margielamike2004]

Ohhhh...this men's collection is REALLY turning me on, now...hahaha!!! That sweater/knit with the matching scarf looks sooooo plush!!!

I'm trying to understand how much involvement Mr. Margiela has had considering this collection. Margiela stepped away for a while...and the collection was left moreso in the hands of Sebastian Meunier (forgive me if I mis-speeled his name)...but this colection looks a bit more sub-versive and less commercial...it looks like Mr. Margiela's own concept of "fashion". I love it, regardless of "who's??" designing it now!!! YUMMERS!!!

 

[margielamike2004]

Oops..sorry for the mis-understanding, Scott!!

Basically, I just find it really weird that the prices for Margiela have gone up since the Diesel buyout. Diesel can mass-produce...so shouldn't the prices be lower???

I have plenty of Margiela's artisinal pieces...but most of them are not as labor-intensive as what his artisinal collection is now. I have mostly t-shirts that have been silk-screened...t-shirts that have had the logo on the front removed, and re-paneled like a huge patch...very early artisianl pieces. His artisinal collection is now REALLY expensive...and a lot more conceptualized that when he first began the artisinal collection. I wish I had the money to afford (his now) artisinal pieces....like that "travel-jacket" that was reworked from luggage...OH MY!!!

 

[Scott]

and you know,that p*rn-star style aura has moved away as well. and sebastien when designing his own collection always had that combination of sleaze-ball and margiela. one would only hope that he is involved. it's obvious this is more in vein to what he was doing four or five years ago in his men's and what he's been doing in his artisanal.

 

[Scott]

well,you know his artisanal used to be the 6 collection and when staff bought part of the maison,he had to tone down the esoteric nature of his mainline so he moved that overt creative spirit(meaning without limitations of commerce) mixed with the handmade spirit and melded them together.

 

[wheneveriwakeup]

The menswear is always so fluid and if this makes any sense - 'just so...'

The shoes are so amazingly good. The boots esp.! As are the coats and jckts. Such fine tailoring. The wire bits are so brawny yet alluring.

Thanks for posting, Scott!

 

[margielamike2004]

I think for a while...Sebastian Muenier was only controlling/designing the 6 collection...and since he was doing so well for the company...they invested moreso in what he was doing..and promoted him to the men's collection.

I was once a huge supporter of Margiela...but I sorta get upset and dis-illusioned when Diesel stpped in...so, I sorta lost my interest in Margiela for a while. I felt the same way with Raf Simons..I have plenty of his early pieces...but after he joined the Prada Corp...I got really fed-up with most of my fashion hero's!!

When I worked at the private boutique in Boston...my boss actually introduced me to Patrick Scallon (he's Margiela's PR person)..and some other girl that was travelling with him in Boston. Unfortunately....Matin Margiela himself, was NOT there..ugggg!!!

Patrick was wearing a beige trenhcoat that was repainted in white...some sorta beige tutleneck sweater, and re-worked jeans. The Asian girl he was with was wearing one of Margiela's classic re-worked denin skirts...made from denim jeans. Honestly, I was sorta intimidated...I didn't have much to say to them (cuz I couldn't get any words out of my mouth from nerves..hahaha)...but I just listened to what they had to say about the company...and debated punching/knocking-out Patrick for that amazing trench we was wearing...hahaha!!!

 

[margielamike2004]

Also...what I really love about Margiela is how his collection never looks like the wearer is "trying" too hard to be "fashionable".

I just had a look at Dior Homme...and it looks too severe for my taste. It looks like the models are trying too hard to be "stylish". The white Kabuki makeup..the heavy vampire-esqu eyeliner...yuchh....it has too much theatrics/drama for me.

The only piece I would dismiss from Margiela's collection is the Michael Jackson-ish leather jacket with the bold V on front....give the model a glitter-glove...and he's good-to-go. I understand the whole 80's influence thing is comming back (and has been for several seasons)...but that jacket is just ridiculous!!!

 

[Starry]

Very cool collection! I want some items!

 

[Scott]

well,i doubt that margiela would be patrick(who's also often shown in the white lab coat for the presentations)and his other business partner jenny mierens does most of the business and presentation work so he can just create behind the scenes.

 

[Scott]

you're welcome,wiw

the shoes are indeed stupendous! and there too,the best he's done. its great...immensely inspiring.

 

[margielamike2004]

Scott..you seem to be a very interesting person...and you obviously have a passion for Margiela. Jenny Meirens is also a retired professor of fashion...from Belgium. She's the one who actually encouraged Margiela do initiate his first collection...after he left as Gaultier's side-kick. Jenny doesn't speak very much....she's very much like Margiela, himself. I've never met her (or Margiela)...but they both seem very connected to one another.

The girl who was travelling with Patrick was definitely NOT Jenny Meirens....the girl he was with was Asian...hahaha!!!

 

[margielamike2004]

Oh...and Scotty...Patrick was not wearing the standard white lab-coat. The lab coat doesn't have a lapel..and it's not coated in white housepaint. The coat that Patrick was wearing was a re-worked trenchcoat. It had epaullets on the shoulders...a belt with a HUGE buckle in the front, etc etc. It was definitely painted white...cuz in the places where be bent his elbows, the paint was cracking and creasing...the original beige color was showing from underneath...hahaha!!

It was many years ago....probably around the year 2000...that's when I stopped working for the boutique. I'm now getting much older from when I worked there, originally. I'm now 36 years old...hahaha!!!

 

[margielamike2004]

And rumor has it......The reason why Margiela stopped communicating with the press was b/c.....one of his first collections was presented in an abandoned playground for children. It was outside...and most of the audience consisted of children who actually made the presentation/invites to the show with crayons. Anyway...the fashion press decided to print that Margiela was "exploting homeless children"...and that concept was never Margiela's intention. Basically...what he was trying to communicate was the subject of neglect...how we all now live in a very disposable society...hence, the "abandoned" playground. Most of the pieces in the show were actually found objects that had been discarded...but, through Margiela's hands...he breathed "new-life" into things that people had disposed of. Margiela is very anti-fashion...and that is the quintessential "ideal" that I aspire to....hahaha!!