Martin Margiela Just Dropped His Archive – The Untold Secrets Behind This Jaw-Dropping Move!

“My definition of luxury is to balance quality, comfort, and timelessness. This was very much appreciated by the studio team. We even had a proper vocabulary; “le porté par deux” meant two identical garments worn together or the “le triple set” three pieces instead of a twin-set. The styles were utterly sober and without details or fastenings. Just the beauty of luxurious materials in fluid shapes. Here, an ensemble of my first autumn-winter collection with the sensual feel of very light cashmere and silk.”—Margiela

“Back in the end 80’s, it was obvious that I could not use the overwhelming grey concrete and black design furniture. The Japanese designers Kawakubo and Yohji launched it and everybody used it for years. I felt that I had to be different by choosing the opposite: the color white. But everything had to be roughly painted white, from walls to floors, to furniture with cotton covers. The television, even the telephones, were painted white. The effect was astonishing. This is one of my private phones. Since I never could remember my number, I wrote it directly on the phone.” —Margiela

“The second time I did an oversized collection in Fall 2000, even the hairdos had oversized details. Every woman in the show sported very long fake fringes. They covered half of their faces. The fringes mounted on diadems were interesting objects. After the show I presented them hanging on the wall above the matching polaroids of the models wearing them.”—Margiela

“The unusual silhouette I had in mind in 1988 needed a very different style of shoe than everything that was around. I thought of bare feet and high massive heels. I suddenly remembered the street workers I saw in Japan. They had intriguing outfits and wore soft Tabi boots. I was thrilled by the idea to construct them in leather on high, heavy, cylindrical heels. Nobody liked them, but I continued to present them season after season. They slowly gained interest and today, nearly 40 years later, they are still produced for sale.

This particular pair was the result of my first group exhibition at the Galliera museum in Paris. I liked the idea that visitors could leave messages on the white painted walls and floor, but they unexpectedly wrote even on the white-painted tabi boots. I love this spontaneous result.” —Margiela

“From the start, I had in mind to create a veil to cover the complete face of the models. By doing so, suddenly all the attention is purely focused on the clothes without any distraction of the person’s face. It created almost an abstraction. I loved that discovery and many times I reapplied them when focus on clothes was important. This one is a study with its pencil marks for corrections.” —Margiela

“As a kid, they were my models, I loved to make dresses for them. This joy never left me. In 1989, I was invited to present Barbies in Martin Margiela outfits. Completely thrilled, I made three outfits from my Fall 1989 show. The result was magic.

Unfortunately, they disappeared at the end of the exhibition. I was in shock. I think I never could cope with that loss. So back in Covid lockdown I felt it was the moment to recreate them. I still had the patterns.”—Margiela

“In the beginning, when I searched for a manufacturer in Italy, I had to visualize the fashion I would like to create. I drew some silhouettes and accessories in the mood of my imaginary fashion house. This dossier reflects the then unknown fashion house. The file, covered in white cotton, was stolen in a train, so I had to redo another one immediately, to show on my trips. In this period I felt that photocopies of drawings were cooler than original pencil drawings. Thanks to this, I could prepare a nearly identical dossier. A year later, the police found it. I immediately compared the two, and I was surprised how close they were.”—Margiela