Maison Martin Margiela
REVIEW
COMPLETE COLLECTION
PARIS, June 28, 2008
By
It's getting harder to remember that Martin Margiela was ever considered one of those designers who trawls the dark, intellectual side of the street. Sure, there's still a waft of high concept around ideas like his Replica range, but who knew the guy was such a stone-gone disco nut? The collection that celebrates Margiela's ten years in menswear was the apotheosis of his love of mirror balls: scarves, jacket lapels, even leggings (in themselves, a disco notion) were wrapped in reflective surfaces. There was also a celebratory scatter of confetti over shirts and shoes. They underlined the collection's emphasis on light and air. A suede blouson was laser-cut in tiny slashes to open it up. So was a navy blazer. And trousers had a side seam of laser-cut fabrics twisted together to create a chevron effect.` Margiela has always been a master of arbitrary notions made appealing. It mightn't seem like much of an idea to make a waistcoat and jacket with buttons folded under to provide a smooth, detail-less front, but it actually looked pretty good. And even the Replica concept (which one occasionally feels like filing under "Why Bother?") produced a smart, unstructured jacket from Buenos Aires in the seventies. One of the intriguing subtexts of Margiela World continues to be his tough-as-nails accessories. Here, it was literally nails—hammered into the heels of boots and shoes, bent into belt buckles and pendants.
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