It’s been a long time coming. Since Glenn Martens announced his departure from Y/Project last year, the fashion industry had been patiently waiting for a) his appointment as creative director at Margiela and b) his first Maison Margiela collection. His debut happened to be couture. And it also happened to be really good. It was tough to follow one of the greatest fashion shows of all time (John Galliano’s Maison Margiela Artisanal 2024 collection will go down in history), but Glenn came through.
Showing in the space where Martin Margiela presented his last collection in 2009 and cleverly bringing back the Margiela masks for his inaugural presentation, Glenn circled it all back to Martin’s legacy. Martin Margiela’s first ever fashion show (SS89) featured models wearing masks, with the purpose of shifting the attention solely to the clothes rather than the models’ faces. Ironically, I’m about to spend two more paragraphs chatting about the masks, rather than the clothes.
The masks became a frequent motif throughout Martin’s career. And even though they were originally used to create faceless models, they were then embellished, and developed into almost jewellery pieces (just like the 2013 Yeezus tour masks that Matthieu Blazy – then designer at Margiela – designed for Ye).
Martens took all the different components and purposes of the Margiela masks through the years and built the covers from a range of materials – from the humble faceless element with masks made out of plastic, lace and sheets to the ornamental masks used as accessories (from sequinned to one that was a literal metal spoon head). But, whatever their purpose, they complemented and added value to the pieces. This was far from a social media gimmick.
Now, the clothing was excellent. The show started out with sculptural gowns (+ masks) made out of PVC – a nod to Martin’s cult eye for unusual materials like plastic bags and cellophane. Then the avant-garde followed: Dune-like gowns with golden masks looked ethereally alien. A crushed velvet dress looked like a walking golden sapphire stone, another one looked like a pyrite crystal.
Pieces were crafted like Baroque tapestry puzzles, denim made a subtle appearance, dresses and coats had pockets for hands to rest on. There were many standouts: sculpted, fluid under the waist gowns, ruffled flowers, PVC jackets, sequinned jackets, a black padded-shoulder gown paired with a paisley tie-like mask, a feathered skirt made out of denim cut-outs. The main character of the show, however, was the celestial gown that resembled Giovanni Strazza’s Veiled Virgin (but a more haunted version).
This was an exciting start for what seems like a long-term appointment at the house of Margiela. Glenn has taken on the torch to build on Margiela’s unique and unconventional legacy, and this was his grand opening. Margiela-heads around the world are happy rn.
Featured images Maison Margiela©
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