Martin Margiela

Martin Margiela ( born April 9, 1957 in Genk, Belgium) is a Belgian fashion designer. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) in 1979, a year before the Avant-garde fashion collective the Antwerp Six.

Life and work

After graduation he worked as a freelance designer for five years. Between 1985 and 1987 he worked for Jean Paul Gaultier, before showing his first collection under his own label in 1989. Between 1997 to 2003 he was the creative director of the Hermès women's line.

During the 1980s, the Japanese avantgardists, with Rei Kawakubo—creator of the label Comme des Garçons—had turned the fashion scene upside-down with their eccentric and ground-breaking designs. Martin Margiela and the Antwerp Six would carry on the work, revolting against the luxurious fashion world with garments of oversized proportions such as long arms, and with linings, seams and hems on the outside. The concept of deconstruction, also embraced by the aforementioned Rei Kawakubo, is important for the understanding of Martin Margiela's fashion statement. Margiela famously redesigns by hand objects such as old wigs, canvases and silk scarves into couture garments.

Throughout his career, Martin Margiela has maintained a low personal profile. He has never had his picture taken and remains backstage after his shows. All media contact is dealt with via fax. Maison Martin Margiela’s ultradiscreet trademark consists of a piece of cloth with the numbers 0-23. The badge is attached to the inside with its four little white pick stitches, exposed to the outside on unlined garments. For the 20^th anniversary the anonymous tag was replaced by a classic logotype.

Margiela's brand was acquired by the Diesel brand in 2002 and industry insiders quoted in the article suggested that Martin Margiela may desire to leave due to creative differences, or simply, "... a desire to enjoy his life outside the insistent glare of the fashion world."

An article in New York Times dated October 1, 2008, gave many in the fashion world their first glimpse of Margiela's face, as well as breaking the news that he allegedly offered to hand the reins of his company over to Raf Simons, who appears to have declined the offer.^[1] Haider Ackermann was later offered the position as creative director, but similarly turned it down.

In October, 2009, Margiela majority stakeholder Renzo Rosso finally made public: "Martin has not been there for a long time. He is here but not here. We have a new fresh design team on board. We are focusing on young, realistic energy for the future; this is really Margiela for the year 2015."

A press release announced in December, that Margiela "has left the business. No replacement creative director will be appointed. Maison Martin Margiela will continue trading but the company declined to comment on the reasons for Margiela’s exit."^[2]

References

Further reading

• Menkes, Suzy (6 September 1994). "Martin Margiela". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 December 2009. 
• Wilson, Eric (1 October 2008). "Fashion’s Invisible Man". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 December 2009. 
• Walker, Harriet (6 December 2009). "Out of sight, not out of mind: Celebrating two decades of Martin Margiela magic". The Independent. Retrieved 6 December 2009.