The third day of Haute Couture Fashion Week was opened by the show of Martin Margiela house; the show as always long-awaited and quite private. On this cold Parisian morning the anonymous team of the legendary fashion house gathered all the editors of the leading fashion magazines and celebrity favorites in perhaps one of the most industrial halls of the fashion week. Collection «Artisanal», made entirely by hand but at the same time very simple and concise, has become, without a doubt, a good start of this fashion day.

As the main source of inspiration for one of the most mysterious fashion teams not the first time became vintage items from a variety styles. These are not empty words, behind such a seemingly simple and understandable collection lie an extensive search and analysis of works of a variety of 20th century authors. Particular attention is paid in the collection to textile. In the majority of looks are used appliqués made from pieces of fabrics created by such legends from the beginning of the last century as Mariano Fortuny and Raoul Dufy. Fabrics created by Frank Lloyd and Jean Lurcat in the 1950s, by Alain Cornic in the 1960s and Verner Panton in the late 1970s formed the basis of entire outfits. The “Opera” coat made from a carpet fabric, developed at the legendary Bauhaus school in the 1920s is definitely a masterpiece.

Another powerful source of ideas for the new collection was the African art. Here we see rather Egyptian embroidered wigs and eyes on veils, covering faces of the models plus decorations from a private collection used during the show. The most spectacular look of the show was a quite simple draped bustier dress of black satin with evening gloves in a form of huge eyes.

The overall impression of the collection, thanks to the bright colors and lots of prints from different eras, is infused with some kind of journey in contemporary art. It may seem that over the last few seasons we saw so much of contemporary art in the collections of various designers that it already gets boring, but it is slightly different in case of Margiela. Whether because of immutable simple silhouettes and straight lines, or because of a competent study of used motifs, the collection is very balanced and light, sometimes to such an extent that it is difficult to assume that every look is a result of dozens of hours of manual work.

Photo credits: Maison Martin Margiela