As strange as it could possibly be with Maison Margiela, the house always brings a vibe when it presents. The brand has just presented its first ever show outside of Paris, taking its weird and wonderful looks to Shanghai. The result? It was the kind of show that creeps up on you halfway through, and suddenly you’re like… wait, why do I feel slightly stressed?
Under Glenn Martens, Margiela is clearly in its recalibration era. If the past few years leaned into full fantasy, this latest presentation felt more restrained on the surface. But don’t get it twisted,” the weird is still very much alive, it’s just been… internalised.
The opening looks played deceptively straight. Tailoring, outerwear, denim. Pieces that felt almost grounded, almost wearable. You could blink and think, “Oh, we’re doing normal now.” Wrong. What Martens does instead is slowly start pulling at the seams until everything feels slightly off. Proportions shift, fabrics cling in odd ways, silhouettes look like they’ve been nudged out of alignment. It’s subtle at first, then it’s not.
And then come the faces. Margiela has always had a thing for anonymity, but this time it feels less poetic and more confrontational. The face coverings interrupted how you read the model, the outfit, and the moment as a whole.
Texturely, this is where the collection really started talking. There’s a constant push between construction and deconstruction. Materials look stretched, peeled. layered like they've been reworked multiple times. Nothing feels pristine or accidental; it's almost deliberate imperfection.
What’s interesting is how wearable it all almost is. Strip away the styling and tone down the intensity, and there’s genuinely a collection of strong wardrobe pieces underneath. Sharp coats, reworked denim. It’s all conceptual, but it’s not completely detached from reality.
As a whole, the show was about a steady buildup. A look would catch your attention, then another will twist the idea slightly. By the time you reach the final stretch, you realise you’ve been pulled into a completely different headspace than where you started.
We discovered that Martens is tightening the focus, stripping things back, and then injecting just a little bit of discomfort to keep it interesting. And honestly? This is what we loved most.
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