Margiela show explores oeuvre of pioneer of discreet luxury
A new exhibition at Antwerp’s MoMu explores Martin Margiela’s quietly radical stint directing womenswear at the Parisian luxury house Hermès
Holding the reins
One part of his oeuvre remains obscure, however: his stint at haute Parisian house Hermès, which occurred before social media and is the departure point for the new exhibition Margiela: The Hermès Years at Antwerp’s fashion museum MoMu.
The show is divided into two halves. One side is painted in the signature Hermès orange; the other, which contains looks from the game-changing label Maison Martin Margiela, which he founded in 1988, is white.
“His work for Hermès is of course different from his work for the Maison,” says curator Kaat Debo. “But it’s very clearly one creative DNA linking these two worlds, and that’s something that we want to show in the exhibition.”
Crazy expectations
By 1997, when Margiela – an alum of the Antwerp Academy’s famous fashion department – was tapped by Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas to head the brand’s women’s ready-to-wear department, he was already an icon.
Between his anonymity (no interviews, no photos) and his Paris-based label’s bold vision – one show on the city’s outskirts involved clothes wrapped in dry-cleaning bags, and drew curious local kids – he was synonymous with the avant-garde.
Hermès was the opposite: an equestrian-rooted label, known for its silk scarves (carrés), pricey leather boots and an iconic handbag named after Grace Kelly. Inviting Margiela to take the reins was hugely radical, not least in an era ruled by glitzy celebrity designers like Gucci’s Tom Ford.
Each season journalists got more frustrated, almost like he was doing it on purpose
“It was a big shock,” says Debo of the appointment. “Margiela fans were a little bit afraid, but also excited because they thought he was going to do something really experimental. Was he going to cut the Kelly bag in two, or deconstruct the carrés? People had the most crazy expectations.”
The 12 collections that followed were both more and less shocking than anticipated. Bypassing staples like the carré, he set out to develop the house’s craftsmanship, and create a timeless wardrobe based on quality and comfort.
“He came up with a very interesting vision, which I call slow fashion avant la lettre,” says Debo. “His idea was to develop a slowly evolving wardrobe where he excluded print and colour in favour of shades of beige, brown, grey. He wasn’t presenting a new trend or storyline each season, but designing transformable clothes that you could wear in many different ways.”
Big ideas
Much as Margiela’s own logo revolved around four white stitches, the Hermès traditional horse and carriage made way for a discreet logo drawn from 1970s gloves. The jewelled buttons favoured by the house ceded to a six-hole button whose threads spelled out the letter H.
Debo: “He was stripping the garments of a lot of things that made them recognisably Hermès.”
While Maison Martin Margiela innovated a structured, close-fitting silhouette with prominent shoulders, his Hermès line was supple and fluid. The MoMu exhibition shows that some staples echoed across both labels: garments porté par deux or porté par trois – worn by two or three – are seen in a three-part bathing suit at Hermès, and a tripartite sweater for the Maison.
The famous vareuse – a sailor-style V-neck garment – was introduced at Margiela and perfected at Hermès. Another constant was his casting of mature women with character to display his clothes rather than teenage waifs; his clothes were for women rather than the male gaze.
Countering obsession
But outside of icons like the Cape Cod watch, with its raffish double strap, Margiela’s Hermès innovations were pointedly un-showy. This was problematic for any catwalk show; a leather coat lined with super-fine leather, say, needed to be touched to be fully appreciated.
Unable to do so, journalists of the day were sceptical – even angry. “Some found it too plain and a bit boring,” says Debo. “He was this man of big ideas, and each season they got more frustrated, almost like he was doing it on purpose.”
Regardless, the clothes sold well. Indeed, while most of the garments in the MoMu show were provided by Hermès’s archive, other pieces came straight from women’s wardrobes – where they have held pride of place for 20 years.
He didn’t design with an idealised body in mind, which is a truly radical idea
During that time, Margiela’s renown has grown exponentially. Not only are brands like Céline, famed for its minimalism, inconceivable without his pioneering of discreet luxury amid 1990s bling, his ideas are still everywhere.
“If you look at the Maison, it really influences high-street fashion today without those brands even knowing it,” says Debo. “Unfinished hems and seams – he was the one who introduced them.”
And with designers like Simons increasingly vocal in their rejection of fashion’s throwaway ethos, the fashion system itself needs reinventing – making Margiela even more of a beacon.
“If you look for an alternative to hyper-commercial, hyper-spectacular fashion, then I think that there’s almost no way around him,” says Debo. "His entire body of work at Margiela was a statement against fashion’s obsession with eternal youth and innovation, done in this very conceptual way.”
He also resisted it at Hermès, she says, “but differently. He didn’t design with an idealised body in mind, which is a truly radical idea – not just then, but today.”
Until 27 August, MoMu, Nationalestraat 28, Antwerp
Photo: Maison Martin Margiela 1996-1997 autumn-winter collection (left), Hermès 1998-1999 autumn/winter collection (right)
©Anders Erdström / Studio des Fleurs
Antwerp Six
Academy’s fashion department is founded
group show in London
beginning of second wave of Antwerp fashion
- Flanders Fashion Institute
- Academy’s Fashion Department
- London Fashion Week
