MAISON MARTIN
MARGIELA
Maison Martin Margiela is a French haute couture house, founded in Paris in 1988 by the Belgian designer Martin Margiela.
(1988)
The Maison was founded by the Belgian designer Martin Margiela with a single dress code for all staff: the "blouse blanche" uniform, which is adopted as a unifying element of the "creative collective", but also as a hymn to the ancient ateliers of Haute Couture.
The Maison's headquarters is entirely painted white and the furniture inside is covered with white cotton sheets. The first women's ready-to-wear collection makes its debut on 23 October. A truly unique visual identity is established in stark contrast to the dominant trends of the time: long and slender silhouettes parade on masked models.
Masculine and feminine at the same time, and often tending to the fusion of the two genders, the Maison promotes a cerebral approach to the deconstruction, reinterpretation and redefinition of the silhouettes of men's and women's ready-to-wear. Each garment is marked with a completely white label, secured with four stitches, which can be easily cut or removed to make it anonymous.
Unique dresses created on the basis of recycled and deconstructed garments in the Maison's Parisian ateliers burst into the women's collections and are labeled "Artisanal".
(1994)
The "Barbie" Fall-Winter 1994 collection introduces the concept of "Replica" by reproducing and enlarging the clothes of the dolls to adapt them to the human figure.
Since 1994, clothes and accessories collected around the world continue to be reproduced and integrated into seasonal collections as part of the "Replica" concept.
The AIDS charity t-shirt was created with the words: "THERE IS MORE ACTION TO BE DONE TO FIGHT AIDS THAN TO WEAR THIS T-SHIRT BUT IT'S A GOOD START" (There is still much more to do to fight the 'Aids besides wearing this t-shirt, but it's still a good start). A percentage of the sales went to the French association "AIDES".
(1997)
A new one has been added to the emblematic white label of the Maison: a label with numbers written in black ranging from 0 to 23, in which the circled digit indicates the line to which the garment belongs.
Launch of Line 6, hereinafter referred to as MM6 - Contemporary Line. MM6 approaches feminine and casual codes in a completely original way through contemporary cuts and prints that are found in the women's clothing, footwear, accessories and leather goods collections. A single horizontal stitch, visible from the outside of the garment, secures the MM6 label to the garment.
(1998)
Line 10 - Men's Collection makes its debut with the 1999 Spring-Summer season.
Venerable silhouettes manifest themselves through the Maison's iconoclastic vision: deconstruction and sartorial technique reign supreme. Line 14 - Men's Wardrobe completes Line 10 with classic and functional garments.
The iconic "Tabi" shoe, inspired by traditional Japanese footwear, emerges from a boot with separate big toe and cylindrical heel. Over the years, the "Tabi" model has been reinterpreted in a wide range of colors, finishes, shapes and sizes.
Called "Collection Plate", the Spring-Summer 1998 women's collection explores geometry and shapes through careful tailoring and ingenious closures, which allow each garment to open and flatten completely when not worn.
(2000)
The first Maison Margiela boutique opens in Tokyo, in the Ebisu district.
The boutique is located in a former industrial plant, where the control units and control systems are preserved as design elements. The whitewashed walls blend with the furniture covered in white cotton and the trompe l'oeil wallpaper, evoking the avant-garde visual identity of the Maison's headquarters and showrooms.
The "Oversize Collection", made up of dresses with enlarged and exaggerated dimensions, is presented for the Fall-Winter 2000 season. Each garment is modeled on an Italian size 78 and maintains the same large proportions even when worn by smaller bodies.
(2002)
Le prime boutique europee della Maison aprono a Bruxelles e a Parigi.
Ognuna di queste boutique celebra la peculiare architettura e la storia degli spazi originali, armonizzando i decori interni secondo i codici di Maison Margiela.
Maison Margiela accoglie Renzo Rosso, presidente di OTB, come azionista maggioritario.
(2004)
Maison Margiela moves to its current headquarters at 163 rue Saint Maur, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
Dating back to the 16th century, the building served as a convent for nearly a century before being transformed into an industrial design school. The white and disconnected walls, marked by time, and the school blackboards, still hanging in various rooms, have been preserved. The meticulous restoration work honored the history of the building, while at the same time managing to adapt the interiors to the visual universe of the Maison.
(2005)
Maison Margiela is given carte blanche by ANDAM (the French National Association for the Development of the Art of Fashion) to exhibit its "Artisanal" creations and accessories in the windows of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication at the Palais Royal in Paris.
Across the Atlantic, Maison Margiela opens its first boutique in New York, in Manhattan's West Village. Originally conceived as a temporary shop, a space "under construction" adorned with scaffolding and boxes still sealed, the shop was redesigned in 2016 to externalize the luxurious and avant-garde image of the Maison.
(2006)
Maison Margiela becomes a corresponding member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and presents its first "Artisanal" collection (called Line 0) for Spring-Summer 2006.
All "Artisanal" garments are handcrafted in the Maison's Parisian ateliers using a range of reworked, antique, found or rough vintage materials. In 2012, Maison Margiela's "Artisanal" collection received the official title of "Haute Couture" from the Fédération Française de la Couture.
Maison Margiela is invited as one of the first fashion creators to Pitti Immagine Uomo, the well-known men's fashion exhibition held every two years in Florence.
(2007)
Line 8 - Eyewear Collection is launched with the "Incognito" model: a single flat lens that covers the front and sides of the face with a black band, hiding the identity of the wearer.
(2008)
On the occasion of Maison Margiela's 20th anniversary, an exhibition is organized at the Antwerp Museum of Fashion (MoMu): a dive into the themes and codes of the Maison to explore 20 years of collections, fashion shows, interior design and even its politics in terms of communication.
The exhibition will subsequently be transferred to Somerset House in London and to the Haus der Kunst in Munich.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Maison is organizing a fashion show for the Spring-Summer 2009 season. To pay homage to the history of the Maison, the collection is pervaded with "re-edition" garments, reinterpreted from previous collections.
Line 12 - High Jewelery Collection makes its debut with a series of oversized interpretations of classic creations, including hypertrophic necklaces and XXXL size chevalier rings.
(2009)
Publication of the retrospective book of the Maison, published by Rizzoli.
(2010)
The Maison's first perfume, baptized (untitled), inaugurates Line 3 - Fragrance Collection.
(untitled) reveals the anonymous character of Maison Margiela through a mix of fresh green notes, enclosed in a raw glass apothecary vial dipped in white paint.
(2011)
Maison Margiela is commissioned to redesign the La Maison Champs-Elysées hotel in Paris.
In a combination of day and night, public spaces and private spaces, the classic Haussmannian architecture is reinterpreted with the filter of the Maison's surrealist vision.
This restyling project marked the launch of Line 13 - Objects & Publications, the collection of interior design objects by Maison Margiela.
(2012)
The concept of "Replica" extends from the reproduction of garments to that of aromas with the launch of the "Replica" fragrance collection.
Each perfume, marked by origin and period, evokes images and memories that draw on the collective unconscious and our personal memories.
Maison Margiela collaborates with H&M to create a collection consisting of "re-edition" garments taken from the Maison's archives. This collaboration embodies the main codes of the Maison, from oversized dimensions to anonymity, distorting traditional shapes, volumes and tailoring techniques.
(2014)
Maison Margiela appoints John Galliano as Creative Director, marking the beginning of a new era in the history of the Maison.
(2015)
Maison Margiela's first "Artisanal" collection designed by John Galliano is presented in London.
The clothes are disassembled and then reborn in an unexpected way, emanating a new unusual beauty through ingenious tailoring and a myriad of new details. The white muslin canvases of each look parade on the catwalk to close the exhibition.
(2016)
The 5AC bag is launched as part of Line 11.
Its name derives from the French word "sac", which means "bag", encoded using the leet language. The cover of the 5AC can be pulled out to exhibit a distinctive and totally anonymous element.
(2020)
In Maison Margiela's recent haute couture show in January 2020, which decoded society's heritage, with a deconstruction of the bourgeoisie, Galliano returned to the show again, breaking the leitmotifs of upcycling and renewal to show that cultural responsibility is something that must continue to be provoked.
