Margiela's new strategy/ *NYC store premiere

[softgrey]

Excellent post, Softgrey. I'm much too tired to type out an articulate response, but I think you summed it up perfectly.

thank you...

 

[baklanyc]

I agree as well. Excellent post. Spot on.

 

[softgrey]

we're gonna have to get team jackets made by mm...

 

[Scott]

Thing is,the quirkier spirit most of us associated him with for years and years,seems to have disappeared even in his mainline. Which has always been more experimental. Some of us long-time fans who fell in love with that stuff,it's really difficult to appreciate this new approach. This more commercial ideal.

I mean,that last collection for the most part was really boring...almost Banana Republic-like.

 

[Scott]

The economy may be bad and all,but it really stinks when you have to sacrifice your identity to sell stupid clothes. The world is already banal enough...why would MMM want to go this route when its been something he's been combating since he started?

This I find puzzling...

 

[nqth]

The economy may be bad and all,but it really stinks when you have to sacrifice your identity to sell stupid clothes.

Scott, I would love to see more people wear that "stupid" :-) MMM clothes than the most exclusive of most other brand :-P

I don't know:-) I didn't see the MMM clothes in real. I think that his latest collections weren't so fotogenic. The fotos were not so exciting. The shops opening or quirky shows made more news than the clothes themself.

But when I look around almost everybody is doing experimental, deconstructed or conceptual clothes. So it is maybe MM wants to do it other way, more quiet:-) I saw his collections in aloharag and almost every item were sold out (of coures, the sale was going on:-)

And he needs money to open more shops for people to come and see his clothes in person. That's when you feel the fabrics, the cut and see the details. I know that most of you guys do:-) but it is the point that it makes it possible for more people as well:-)

 

[softgrey]

And he needs money to open more shops for people to come and see his clothes in person. That's when you feel the fabrics, the cut and see the details. I know that most of you guys do:-) but it is the point that it makes it possible for more people as well:-)

very good point ngth...
and more people may be influenced by the quietness of his design aesthetic...

the world is very complicated right now...maybe it's ready for some quiet clothes that don't scream look at me...

i can only hope...

 

[Scott]

The first time I ever saw MMM's stuff in person I was astounded. This was before Diesel,you see. I was so enchanted by everything I saw from this line. It was experimental but it was also very "wearable". And everything was so beautifully made. I've been hearing since the acquiring,the quality of the lines have went down considerably than before. And this is from some of my die-hard friend's.

I don't understand what you mean by quiet as he's always been sort of an elusive figure in this world.

 

[Scott]

His stuff has never screamed. Its always been subtle.

 

[nqth]

Thank you, Softgrey:-)

 

[nqth]

The first time I ever saw MMM's stuff in person I was astounded. This was before Diesel,you see. I was so enchanted by everything I saw from this line. It was experimental but it was also very "wearable". And everything was so beautifully made. I've been hearing since the acquiring,the quality of the lines have went down considerably than before. And this is from some of my die-hard friend's.

I don't understand what you mean by quiet as he's always been sort of an elusive figure in this world.

I was reffering to the "experimental designs" that are all over the place now:-)

I mean that because of his quiet designs, they don't look "one of a kind":-) in photos and don't make headlines in press. One can't really tell based on the fotos, nor internet, as one can do with most of collections. Shops are really only way to "exam" them, as well as the whole MM design concepts and spirit. And he has not so many:-)

I can't discuss the quality since I haven't seen the clothes in person:-)

 

[softgrey]

His stuff has never screamed. Its always been subtle.

i agree...that's what i mean...his designs are quiet and in a market that is full of other brands all screaming for attention...i think sometimes a whisper is the best way to get it...

i'm talking about the larger, lower end market that diesel currently inhabits...
well-ok...maybe not 'lower end'...but lower priced than designer....
the contemporary market that the lower priced lines will be sold in...

i'm not speaking of the design collection...i'm speaking of the changes that are proposed now by diesel...with the new stores and the new marketing of the brand...
hopefully now the company as a brand will have more influence on the market...and encourage a quieter way of dressing for that market...
as well as introduce them to the design collection...

i hope that explains it better?...

 

[nqth]

I'd like to make it clear:-) I know that you guys, esp. Scott are "die hard" supporters of independent designers, as well as you know many of them in person:-)

Understand your anxiety about the "new route" of MMM. It could be good or it could be really bad.

It's the new situation they are facing. Let's hope that it will be fine:-)

 

[faust]

Hmmm, I still can't reconcile the fact that MMM claims that they need more money and the fact that in NYC he is represented BY FAR much better than most other designers that you could put in the same group. Same goes for what I've seen in Europe and for what I've heard about Asia. MMM makes A TON of clothes, just look at YOOX. So I really don't know what this is about. Sorry, guys, I'm not buying this.


Also (and I will limit this to the men's line, because the women's is still quirky and funky), I have to agree with Scott. I just don't see the same MMM anymore. A lot of it is rehashed, redone, reintroduced. I am not saying he's lost it, but I don't see the reason for paying the price for something that has become so un-unique. And I don't mind simplicity, I mind blandness.

 

[Scott]

You know,Faust,I think alot of it is Russo's marketing speciality. I don't think it has anything to with MMM needing more money either. Seems they want to turn MMM into some superbrand...like Diesel. Which makes me really weary....

Honestly,I don't what's going to happen in the coming months and years...I think we're all just a bit,as I said,weary,and have been since he signed on the dotted line. And alot of the statements in this article just makes us all even more critical of this partnership.

 

[softgrey]

scott...do you mean wary?...

 

[softgrey]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/10/style/fmartin.html

great article here from suzy menkes...

 

[softgrey]

excerpt...iht...

The reclusive Margiela, who is never photographed and does not appear at his shows, now has a vast place in which to hide. There are old schoolrooms complete with blackboards, where dummies are draped with cloth, and long white galleries with gauze swaddling crystal chandeliers. A glass-brick roofed area of a former machine-tool room is now filled with floral dresses from the 1950s waiting to be given a new life.
.
Behind the move of Maison Margiela, to Rue Saint Maur in the hip Oberkampf district in the northeast of Paris, is Renzo Rosso, the Italian founder of Diesel jeans and a fashion entrepreneur of cool.

"It is still 100 percent Margiela - he checks every single fabric and fitting, and I can propose but he can refuse," says Rosso, who has increased the company's revenue to ?30 million from ?24 million since he became a majority shareholder in 2002.
.
Rosso says that "this kind of little label" is losing market share, particularly with the shrinking of multi-brand boutiques. His aim therefore, by creating a management structure and putting Giovanni Pungetti in place as CEO, has been to free Margiela.
.
"He can just create, I take care of all the rest," Rosso says,
.
.
The chalk white school house puts Margiela on an industrial scale - something that should be conceptually a perfect fit and bring him the commercial success that such imagination and integrity deserve.
.

 

[Astrid21]

Great article, Softgrey. Thanks for posting.

I would love to just walk around and absorb his headquarters .

 

[softgrey]

you're welcome astrid...i agree ...i'd love to see the space...i really love the store in london...

excited to see the new york store....imo...we don't have enough stores that have an interesting design concept in the store itself...