MM6's Pre-Fall battle cry was the great outdoors, but for all that untamed wilderness and cruel beauty there was a flip side of domesticity. Where the brand's past couple of efforts (including its pre-season debut for Resort) have turned a keen eye to a mash-up of Western Americana and Japanese styling, these were clothes that spoke to big, universal ideas, like shelter and exploration. Survivalism's newfound vogue came coolly represented in boxy tarpaulin pieces and hefty climbing-rope and grommet details. It was a far cry from, say, Alexander Wang's more hard-core take on the idea, and there was no spandex on offer here. (There was some savvy branding, though, in tops and dresses emblazoned with the phrase "More than just your favourite MM6.") Elsewhere there were apron shapes, extraterrestrial landscape prints, and standouts in the way of cozy sweater dressing. The considerable volume of some pieces—an oversize plum tuxedo jacket and structured dresses—nodded to ideas of carving out personal space.
Margiela's perennial interest in the interactive, most specifically the destruction of things that are lived-in (recall the house's über-cool Converse collab—white-paint-dipped Chuck Taylors, which, with wear, cracked to reveal primary hues underneath) was well represented. That aforementioned slogan was missing a few letters here and there, like a marquee left months unattended; a flocked polka-dot-print dress came bearing doodles and some worn-away spots. And there were paint spatters aplenty, on everything from dresses to one beautiful shearling jacket-denim vest hybrid that summed up the collection neatly: utilitarian but never bloodless, elegantly off yet wearable.
