Belgian designer Martin Margiela (b. 1957) — whose life, career, and designs for handbags, clothing and shoes have become cult-collector obsessions — pushed those who attended his shows outside their comfort zones. In the years following the 1988 debut of Maison Martin Margiela, he toyed with creative and aesthetic paradoxes that persist in fashion today.
Consider the Spring/Summer 2001 shirt patchworked from vintage clothing labels, or his famous corset dresses made from tailoring dummies, from his Fall/Winter 1997 line. Or his oversize collection for Fall/Winter 2000. In 1992, Margiela told Dépêche Mode magazine, “My clothes appeal to women of a certain mindset rather than of a specific age or physique.”
Born in Genk, Belgium, in 1957, Margiela knew he wanted to be a fashion designer after catching glimpses of Parisian fashion on TV as a child. Although his parents discouraged this career choice as an oddly funny aspiration, Margiela enrolled in the fashion program of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. There, he befriended and graduated a year ahead of the Antwerp Six — the acclaimed group of Belgian fashion designers comprising Dries Van Noten, Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Marina Yee, Dirk Bikkembergs and Dirk Van Saene.
Like many of his contemporaries in the 1980s, Margiela understood Paris fashion but felt a deep resonance with the deconstructed beauty espoused by Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, of Comme des Garçons. Margiela’s fascination with Japan influenced many of his earliest collections and designs, from a dress pieced together from broken plates to his iconic Tabi boots, inspired by the split-toe Japanese worker’s shoe, which dates back to the 15th century.
Margiela decided to launch his own line while working for renowned Paris designer Jean Paul Gaultier. With Belgian designer Jenny Meirens, Margiela established Maison Martin Margiela in the French capital in 1988.
Margiela’s debut show was nothing short of spectacular. Set in a packed Café de la Gare in the still-seedy Marais district, it was also scandalous to the Parisian fashion set of the time. The designer tore up the conventions of contemporary couture presentations, most notably having his models, plucked from the streets and wearing ink-blotted Tabis, wend their way through the crowd.
The show redefined the concept of the runway in a way that would later inspire such designers as Alexander McQueen and Demna Gvasalia.
While the notoriously private designer retired from fashion in 2009, for many Maison Martin Margiela collectors, his pieces capture the irreverence of the postwar, post-punk late 1980s and ’90s. Katy Rodriguez, cofounder of the cult vintage fashion shop Resurrection, is among those who felt a connection to Margiela’s clothing in the subliminal challenges it posed to the time’s beauty norms.
“Growing up in San Francisco and coming out of the end of punk rock, not wanting to be objectified, not wanting to be seen as a sexual object, not wanting your value to be just because you’re pretty — all those clothes played into all of that,” she says. “It really was a reflection of the kind of world the young people I knew at the time wanted to live in.”
John Galliano was named creative director at the house in 2014 and it rebranded as Maison Margiela in 2015.
Find vintage Maison Martin Margiela boots, evening dresses, jackets and more on 1stDibs.
MAISON MARGIELA 2010 dark grey alpaca wool oversized sweater
By MM6 Maison Margiela, Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Hong Kong, NT
MAISON MARGIELA 2010 dark grey alpaca wool oversized sweater Reference: ALCU/A00021 Brand: Maison Margiela Designer: Martin Margiela Collection: FW 2010 ...
MAISON MARGIELA 2011 black nude silk blend layered deconstructed sweater XS
By MM6 Maison Margiela, Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Hong Kong, NT
MAISON MARGIELA 2011 black nude silk blend layered deconstructed sweater XS Reference: TGAS/E00233 Brand: Maison Margiela Designer: Martin Margiela Collection: FW 2011 Material: Silk...
MAISON MARGIELA 2012 grey 100% wool oversized long cardigan M
By MM6 Maison Margiela, Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Hong Kong, NT
MAISON MARGIELA 2012 grey 100% wool oversized long cardigan M Reference: ALCU/A00020 Brand: Maison Margiela Designer: Martin Margiela Collection: FW2012 Material: Wool Color: Grey Pa...
STELLA MCCARTNEY 2010 charcoal virgin wool cashmere raglan sweater IT38 XS
By Stella McCartney
Located in Hong Kong, NT
STELLA MCCARTNEY 2010 charcoal virgin wool cashmere raglan sweater IT38 XS Reference: NKLL/A00155 Brand: Stella McCartney Designer: Stella McCartney Collection: 2010 Material: Virgin...
LANVIN 2005 grey wool cashmere mesh trim bateau batwing sweater FR38 M
By Lanvin Paris, Alber Elbaz
Located in Hong Kong, NT
LANVIN 2005 grey wool cashmere mesh trim bateau batwing sweater FR38 M Reference: CELG/A00340 Brand: Lanvin Designer: Alber Elbaz Collection: 2005 Material: Wool, Cashmere Color: Bla...
BERNHARD WILLHELM black cotton blend draped hi low cardigan M
By Bernhard Willhelm
Located in Hong Kong, NT
BERNHARD WILLHELM black cotton blend draped hi low cardigan M Reference: PRWU/A00141 Brand: Bernhard Willhelm Material: Cotton, Blend Color: Black Pattern: Solid Closure: Hook & Eye ...
Margiela grey wool jersey sweater with inverted darts, fw 1989
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in London, GB
▪ Margiela grey wool jersey sweater ▪ 100% Wool ▪ Inverted darts and seams ▪ Scoop neckline ▪ FR 40 - UK 12 ▪ Fall-Winter 1989
Maison Martin Margiela Black Oversized V Neck Sweater Ss 2000
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Resurrection Vintage is excited to offer a vintage Maison Martin Margiela black oversized sweater from the spring 2000 collection, which focused on overblown proportions. The sweater...
Maison Martin Margiela Miss Deanna Trompe L'oeil Lurex Knit Pullover FW1999
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Chicago, IL
When Belgian former fashion designer Martin Margiela debuted gold Lurex knits while French luxury-goods Hermes Womenswear Artistic Director, simultaneously for F/W 1999 he introduced at his eponymous Paris-based Maison Martin Margiela a collection featuring 1970s-inspired Lurex-accented sweaters and oversized loose clothes intended for either women or men. Including a distinct printed tag stitched into a seam by Italian knitwear innovator Miss Deanna, who created many iconic knits under Margiela's artistic direction, this Margiela sparkly finely-knit long-sleeve pullover in a Lurex and viscose stretch blend is a minimalist unisex design with narrow ribbed trim at the crewneck, wrists and hem. Its "Made In Italy" size 44 with a 15.5-inch shoulder-line is without darts and drapes like a one-size-fits-most soft T-shirt. Presenting the optical illusion of a dark tube top and detached sleeves worn underneath, the lightweight sweater was knit from pale-gold, grey and blue yarns into a ombre pattern like a spray-painted gradient or dip-dyed fabric. Yet the additional glittery orange-tone metallic thread (difficult to photograph due to reflections) woven throughout proves that it was not painted or dyed, but an experimental complex knitwear manufacturing technique by Miss Deanna. While we have sold Lurex distorted sweaters by Miss Deanna from the F/W 1999 collection with matching label text formatting and a blank Margiela brand label, none of them included a conceptual trompe-l'oeil of another garment in reference to earlier collections, which suggests that this is among a Margiela-commissioned one-off comparable to her initial Artisanal knits. Later for Margiela's first diffusion collections, Miss Deanna mass-produced knits for Line 6, which were identified by the house's new brand label with a circled numeral among the Line numbers from 0 to 23. That more affordable Line evolved into MM6. Comparatively, Margiela's Fall 1999 Artisanale Line 0 collection, which was instead produced by his Parisian team, explored the textural effects of hand-painting fabrics, such as the unisex T-shirts that were striped or obscured with thick silver paint. Earlier in the 1990s, Margiela had reproduced some vintage...
MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA FW 90 Extremely rare slashed felted long sleeves top
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Milano, MILANO
Extremely rare Fall Winter 1990 slashed felted long sleeves top by Maison Martin Margiela 72% wool 28% polyamide
Maison Margiela MM4 Wool blend Top XS Long Rib Front Open crop back Tunic Gray
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in San Diego, CA
Maison Margiela Wool Top Tunic size XS The epitome of avant garde sporty chic, this Wool blend ribbed sweater top is designed with an intentional, high-contrast structural silhoue...
Ann Demeulemeester Charcoal Gray Loose-Knit Pullover
By Ann Demeulemeester
Located in New York, NY
As only Ann Demeulemeester can, this loose-knit charcoal gray crew-neck pullover is made from a blend of 67% wool mohair, 30% nylon and 3% wool giving it a soft-feeling touch....
