By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Chicago, IL
With Martin Margiela's original blank white textural cotton corner-sewn label from the early 1990s visible above the structural hole in the center of the circular knit, this openwork yarn top that is clearly a one-of-a-kind Artisanal garment by Maison Martin Margiela is crocheted from a brown soft animal-hair blend into a see-through changeante pattern recalling a collapsed spiderweb.
A prominent European dealer sold a Margiela F/W 1994 similarly knit but longer deconstructed openwork mohair-blend dark grey cape-like "maxi cardigan" that also featured a circular knit hole and spiderweb aesthetic. Its remaining additional tag indicated that it was produced by Margiela's longtime Italian knitter Miss Deanna.
Further, we have found similar one-of-a-kind Margiela openwork-knit and unraveled pieces, as well as one with oversized snaps like the fasteners on our top, dating back to his 1992 collection. Suggesting that our listing could have been from an even earlier collection possibly knit by Margiela's mother, Antwerp fashion museum MoMu featured a pale deconstructed mohair sweater dating from 1990 in its major Martin Margiela 20-year retrospective (see our snapshot), which was an exhibition produced in collaboration with the designer during his final year at the house in 2008. Our design may be a vintage style collected for reproduction before the new commissioned top was deconstructed with his Paris-based team.
Our knit fastens with pompon-tipped yarn ties, along with two signature silver oversized snap-buttons, which appeared on Margiela tops most noticeably in 1994 for a collection that was inspired by toy doll wardrobes and included human-sized reproductions of actual loose-fitting miniatures.
For price comparison beyond the recent record-breaking Margiela auctions in Paris, two other Margiela 1990s...
Category
Italian Late 20th Century Jackets