Industrious

Maison Margiela SS16
By Tempe Nakiska | 29 June 2015

Margiela is a house built on the notion of repurposing, taking elements of the already-there and igniting anew – materials and techniques are wielded as artisanal weapons of creation. And though it’s often the most avant-garde of Margiela shows that underline the Maison ethos (now, minus the ‘Martin’), strip it back and the essence of the thing really vibrates.

That’s how it was yesterday in Paris, Margiela presenting it’s SS16 collection in a disused train depot where the ricketiest carriages of Paris were once breathed new life. An industrial setting for a collection that channeled this energy hard and strong. It started off quiet, full cut suits languorously cut while the shoes, studded with metal rivets, signalled the ‘tude of the machine.

We continued, and the real stars emerged: works of rubber magic. They were a series of tops and coats, materialising as the Margiela atelier plastered the substance onto various surfaces – other clothes, sides of houses, a Stockman mannequin. The rubber hardened, was peeled off and took away parts of it’s mould with it, along with the aesthetic of whatever the surface was it had been adhered to. Impacting the host, taking what’s required – parasitic DIY. Subtle yes. But look closer and there’s the raw industrial energy that makes Margiela Margiela, and it feels good to single that out.

GALLERYCatwalk images from Maison Margiela SS16





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