Martin Margiela - Designer

[Rene2509]

feature and article in i-D March 2008
*please do not quote images*
my scans

whats the name of this girl?

 

[Scott]

^colette pecheckhonova....a veteran model and definitely one the best.

 

[Rene2509]

thank you!

 

[droogist]

A few pictures from the second Margiela collection, A/W 1989 (scanned from Collezioni magazine no. 11)

 

[droogist]

S/S 1990 (scanned from Collezioni no. 14)

 

[droogist]

cont'd

 

[Scott]

^those posts make me so happy,droog

also,people need to see this stuff to really see the power and level of influence MMM has truly had(before diesel) and how distinctly margiela his voice was compared with what's happening without him.

 

[droogist]

^ I'm happy if you're happy.

Moving right along...A/W 1990, a truly amazing collection (scanned from Collezioni no. 17

 

[droogist]

cont'd

 

[droogist]

S/S 1991 (scanned from Collezioni no. 20 - this is the last one I have

 

[softgrey]

thank for the images droogist...
i have to say that i find it really hard to recognize mmm in these collections...
i don't know if he had really come into his own at this point...

i do think it is nice to compare these early collections to what eventually became his signature design style later on...

 

[droogist]

You're welcome softgrey.

i have to say that i find it really hard to recognize mmm in these collections...
i don't know if he had really come into his own at this point...

i do think it is nice to compare these early collections to what eventually became his signature design style later on...

Hm, maybe I just have a different set of visual references when it comes to MMM, but I have to say that I quite disagree. I've always considered Margiela's collections quite remarkable in their consistency, both thematically and aesthetically. In these early collections you can spot a lot of the elements that reoccured in his work over the duration of his career, particularly during the first ten years: the long silhouette, garment segments, chunky knitwear, pieced/recycled sweaters, aprons, slips, oversized garments, oversized fastenings, the plastic bag, zippers running along the entire length of garment...and I think those incredible jackets and coats and unmistakably Margiela.

 

[Scott]

i think in those last images it maybe had a very rich vein and perhaps is a bit of a contrast to what we've been used to from MMM. but certainly,every signature you pointed out is clearly present.

it's really telling though seeing how far ahead of his time he really truly was. i mean you see what jun takahashi does at undercover or rodarte etc. etc. this man has been there and done it decades before it was considered so hip. and he is still so immensely under-appreciated for his early work.

 

[Phuel]

...this man has been there and done it decades before it was considered so hip. and he is still so immensely under-appreciated for his early work.

I may be in the minority in feeling Margiela has always been overhyped-- right from the beginning of his career. I remember seeing his first collection being featured in ELLE USA: Broken plates made into a vest, raw hems with loose sequins, all held together by a long and lean silhouette. And I remember seeing those all-white hand-painted canvas rucksacks with the scribbles and graffitis all over them at Holts... He was very-well embraced internationally from the beginning.

I also remember another designer that has a similar aesthetic, and design philosophy as Margiela--very industrial, recyclable and sustainable fashion. This was Jean Colonna (where is he now?), but it was always Margiela that got the spotlight from the beginning.

 

[runner]

thanks for the scans droogist


I guess his work may be a bit more prismatic than what is called truth can normally be.


personally jean colonna doesn't come to mind so much in this context. jc is more of a downtown/rocknroll/motorcycle xuly bet to me. and jc's work was represented well where I live. (I'm afraid he is one of the victims of/was consumed by onward co,ltd)

 

[droogist]

You're welcome runner.

I may be in the minority in feeling Margiela has always been overhyped-- right from the beginning of his career. I remember seeing his first collection being featured in ELLE USA: Broken plates made into a vest, raw hems with loose sequins, all held together by a long and lean silhouette. And I remember seeing those all-white hand-painted canvas rucksacks with the scribbles and graffitis all over them at Holts... He was very-well embraced internationally from the beginning.

I also remember another designer that has a similar aesthetic, and design philosophy as Margiela--very industrial, recyclable and sustainable fashion. This was Jean Colonna (where is he now?), but it was always Margiela that got the spotlight from the beginning.

You're right, Margiela was embraced by the fashion cognoscenti from the get-go. I don't think he was overhyped, though.

In the same issues of Collezioni that I used for these scans, there are lots of pictures of Jean Colonna collections. While there may have been superficial similarities to their aesthetics, they were really miles apart. Margiela was always agressively conceptual. His work was usually an exploration of the idea of a garment, e.g. using the garment linings as standalone garments, or scaling items up to double their normal size. Colonna's work, as runner said, was more about creating a look.

Colonna is still in business, btw, and he still makes cool, wearable clothes - just as he did 20 years ago.

 

[BerlinRocks]

^heu i think Colonna has made a come-back like 2 or 3 seasons ago ...
But, he was out of the radar for a lot of years in the 2000s ...

 

[Scott]

yeah JC is still designing indeed but only on a smaller scale than it was before 2002. i really like/liked what he does but i don't agree that he and margiela are alike. like droog said,maybe more so in their affinity with textures but not in that witty way margiela liked to explore concepts. also colonna was rather aggressive in his stylings. i would probably liken colonna more with helmut lang in that they both tended to draw upon urban lifestyles.

i still feel though that margiela was underappreciated by the establishment. if he was featured it was occasional. unlike demeulemeester and helmut lang,margiela didn't really enjoy that kind of success for many years early on. margiela did get a lot of attention from independent mags but not consistently present elsewhere.

 

[Phuel]

In the same issues of Collezioni that I used for these scans, there are lots of pictures of Jean Colonna collections. While there may have been superficial similarities to their aesthetics, they were really miles apart. Margiela was always agressively conceptual. His work was usually an exploration of the idea of a garment, e.g. using the garment linings as standalone garments, or scaling items up to double their normal size. Colonna's work, as runner said, was more about creating a look.

Colonna is still in business, btw, and he still makes cool, wearable clothes - just as he did 20 years ago.

You're absolutely right about the difference between Margiela and Colonna. I think I shouldn't have used the term aesthetic to describe the similarity between these two designers-- I think attitude is the more fitting term that links them, as they were never precious and haughty about their approach to design.

Funnily, I find it's some of Margiela's supporters that treat his designs as more important as he may present them. It's hard to say if he takes it all as seriously as some people do, as he hardly speaks of his collections.

Although I'm not much a fan of his menswear (too Salvation Army and Carlito's Way for my taste at those prices), I do admire his womenswear, particularly his earlier collections-- or at the least, the strong concepts behind them. Remember the A/W 1993 collection that presented vintage 50s ball gowns cut into minis and aviator trenches cropped at the waist, all pulled together with that signature wrinkled, inside-out and exposed raw seam long skirt?

I guess in writing this, the hype was well-deserved! However, I still can't understand why anyone would pay for those paint-covered rucksacks, jean jackets, (deliberately) tacky tees, and toe-capped shoes... Can't you do it yourself? I mean, wasn't that the point? Or would that not be a MMM original?

 

[droogist]

The hype was 100% deserved, imo.

However, I still can't understand why anyone would pay for those paint-covered rucksacks, jean jackets, (deliberately) tacky tees, and toe-capped shoes... Can't you do it yourself? I mean, wasn't that the point? Or would that not be a MMM original?

The short answer is probably "yes." I think that after a while, the white paint became something like the MMM version of a logo print. It's worth keeping in mind, however, that when they first started doing it, overpainting an entire garment - or just one side of the garment, as they often did - with a single color was actually pretty novel. Since then it's become part and parcel of their brand identity (and therefore, banal).