Martin Margiela has always done things differently. In the era of high-octane colour, power proportions and statement shapes that defined 1980s fashion, the Belgian designer emerged onto the scene with an altogether different proposition. His deconstructionist vision and references from across time and place paved the way for a new chic, and his radical interpretation of what a fashion show could be – from the abandoned metro station staging of S/S 1992 to a 1989 presentation played out to a front row of local Paris kids – laid the blueprint for show as public spectacle.

Margiela may have stepped away from his brand in 2009, but he’s still doing things differently. In July, more than 200 pieces from his personal archive will go to auction, organised in Paris by Maurice Auction, in collaboration with London’s Kerry Taylor Auctions. This is the first time a living creator has directly collaborated with an auction house to offer their personal archive of clothing and designs (spanning 1984 to 2008 and including select pieces from the wardrobe of his late mother, Léa Bouchet).

In honour of this unprecedented moment in fashion history, Wallpaper* spoke with Salomé Pirson of Maurice Auction and Kerry Taylor Auctions’ Alex Baddeley about what we can expect to see when the gavel strikes.

A new auction sees Martin Margiela’s personal archive go up for sale

Martin Margiela is famously enigmatic and withdrawn from public life – what do you think the objects on sale reveal about their former owner?

Alex Baddeley: It’s the sale itself, rather than what is in it, that I think makes the biggest statement – Martin has always exhibited his works in a really unusual, radical way, and it’s quite fascinating that, 17 years after leaving his own brand, he has the creative imagination to engage the wider world in doing something unprecedented. Choosing to open up his own archive in this way almost feels like a performance – one that could only be performed by Martin.

What kind of people do you anticipate will be drawn to this auction?

AB: No doubt that the majority of the most important pieces will go to museum collections, but the scale and range of objects we have is very broad, and the beauty of an auction is that, in a way, it’s quite democratic. For a brand that was as ego-less as Maison Martin Margiela – you know, with its blank label – it’s a perfect fit. There are tiny objects and curios, ephemera really, that will attract individual collectors who just want to take home a piece of his incredible legacy, as well as the big institutions.

Are there any particular pieces you are especially excited by, and why?

Salomé Pirson: I love the Hermès pieces [Margiela was creative director of the house’s womenswear line from 1997-2003], which have an additional layer of meaning because they belonged to his mother, to whom he was very close, and who was an enormous source of support during his career. I think that wearing a complete look from Hermès by Martin Margiela makes you just about the most powerful woman ever! Hermès was a very special time for Martin, having access to such luxury materials and artisans, so the pieces from this time have great memories attached for him. And the Initiale Bag, which he designed in 2002! It’s very rare, and something I personally would love to wear.

AB: There are these original sketches from 1984 when the brand was just an idea, and you can see even then how well defined his vision was. In the context of the 1980s, and all the glitz and glam that defined the decade’s fashion, to be looking at pattern designs from turn-of-the-century workwear and turning them into something totally new – those sketches really give you an insight into what a creative force he always has been.

Can you tell me anything about the process and experience of collaborating with Martin Margiela on this historic sale?

SP: Martin doesn’t use telephone or email, so this entire process, which has been more than a year in the making, has been done through real face-to-face conversation. And in fact, it’s more like a curatorial relationship than the usual role of an auctioneer. Martin encourages a much more artistic perspective. He’s been very particular about what he wants presented and how, but I think the thing he cares most about here is that everything will be really cherished.

I’d love to hear about what it means to you to be selected to host the auction.

AB: The whole experience has been very moving. Being so close to the work, you really get a sense of how much all of this means to him. Martin always wanted to be a fashion designer. He used to make miniature outfits for Barbie dolls that we have in the sale, and when you hold one in the palm of your hand, you can really understand the amount of care that went into things, like the tiny hand-painted silver Tabi boots. These objects are like holy relics of fashion; they’re part of a great mythology, which is a real dream for an auctioneer.

The auction takes place on 9 July 2026 at 2:00pm. An accompanying exhibition runs from 4–8 July, 2026 at 71 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, Paris 11th arrondissement.

Catalogue available mid-June on mauriceauction.com

The debut of Maison Margiela’s Scentsorium collection marks the cult brand’s first foray into luxury perfumery after years of winning fans with its Artisanal collection of time-and-place-inspired fragrances. According to the brand, the six scents in the collection are executed with ‘surgical sensoriality’, a way of saying that the maison’s perfumes are inspired by the creation of its clothing: materials are stripped back or deconstructed, with accents added on top to add definition.

It’s a method that creates tension between raw elements and refined craftsmanship, a juxtaposition which is classically Margiela, and, like the brand’s fashion, will appeal to consumers who prefer products with a conceptual bent. That’s not to say these are fragrances that are difficult to wear, but they are niche – each scent is inspired by specific and sometimes unusual emotions (for example, 'the tension between desire and infatuation'), with an intriguing metallic accord running through each.

The collection took over three years to develop, and during its evolution, the line underwent 'countless iterations', according to Sandrine Groslier, the global president of Luxe Fragrance Brands at L’Oréal. 'We don't count in luxury – we refine until reaching the most exceptional juice possible. Some chapters required over 70 versions. Chapter six’s [Fit of Folly's] futuristic patchouli alone took 18 months. We pushed suppliers repeatedly, customising molecules, fractioning materials. When developing true luxury, you iterate to absolute perfection. The number doesn't matter – only the transformation achieved.'

Below, we break down the scents and offer an honest review of each.

Maison Margiela's Scentsorium Collection

Blaze of Stillness

This is the lightest scent in the collection and the closest it has to a skin fragrance. Its blend of neroli blossom, fig and musky suede creates a creamy, powdery quality usually associated with white flowers, but cut through with a particular metallic quality that conjures associations with steel or chrome. In the initial notes we made for the fragrances (and before reading the brand’s descriptions), we wrote down ‘knives and flowers’ – fitting, perhaps, for a scent designed to evoke ‘the feeling of hope in a moment of suspense.’

Silent Fury

The most iconic scent from Maison Margiela's longstanding Artisanal collection is a scent called ‘Jazz Club’, a boozy, smoky blend inspired by the scent of drinking cocktails in leather armchairs. One way to think of Silent Fury is a more accurate, and artful, expression of what a jazz club might actually smell like: the metallic tang of sweat and metal instruments, the cloying scent of spicy colognes, leather jackets and the mustiness of cigarettes clinging to artificial fabrics.

Anguish and Awe

Anguish and Awe will likely be the biggest crowd pleaser from the collection. An opulent floral infused with resinous, fruity notes, it’s the kind of fragrance that conjures the word ‘expensive’. Inspired by ‘the tension between desire and infatuation’, the fragrance aims to be the olfactory equivalent of a black rose, with the initial punch of its dark, sweet qualities eventually settling down into a lighter, more recognisably floral composition.

Tender Defiance

This fragrance is a combination of liquorice, incense and smoke that, despite the darkness of its ingredients, has a candy-like quality that made us write down the word ‘pink’ in our testing notes. The explanation for this is probably down to the refined treatment of the liquorice and gentle heating of the resin, which creates a strange metallic sweetness. If Anguish and Awe was inspired by the black rose, Tender Defiance is a dark red one – still dramatic and romantic, but a little on the lighter side.

Delight in Despair

This is one of the most intriguing scents within the collection. Inspired by the feeling of euphoria, the fragrance takes an experimental approach to cypriol and saffron by experimenting with the distillation temperature to give the ingredients novel qualities. The green, grassy quality of cypriol is intensified and infused with the creaminess of saffron for a scent that is both clean and warm with a slightly sweet dry down.

All change! So could be the motto of the S/S 2026 season, which heralded the arrival of 15 new creative directors at fashion’s major houses – from Dior to Chanel.

It led to a sweeping feeling of freshness and renewal that would define the season, one that Wallpaper* captures in a new series of images by photographer Nicole Maria Winkler and Wallpaper* fashion & creative director Jason Hughes.

S/S 2026’s standount looks in the fitting room

Originally featured in our March 2026 Style Issue, they capture model Valerija Kelava dressing up in a series of S/S 2026’s standout looks – whether the rising Belgian design Julie Kegels’ collaged layers (she said she wanted the collection to feel like it had a life of its own) or a sweeping white gown from Jonathan Anderson’s first Dior collection, delicately edged with flowers.

The setting is a surreal imagining of a fitting room by set designer Kim Harding, Winkler’s longtime collaborator. Within it, we explore the transformative power of a new season of looks. Keep scrolling to shop the story.

Model: Valerija Kelava at Oui Management. Casting: Esther Boiteux at EB Agency. Hair: Moe Mukai using Oribe. Make-up: Sunao Takahashi at Saint Luke using Byredo. Set design: Kim Harding Studio. Digi tech: Anna-Sophia John. Photography assistants: Josh Rea, Elliot Humbles. Set design assistant: Austeja Gokaite. Fashion assistant: Lucy Proctor. Production assistant: Danielle Quigley.

A version of this story appears in the March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + now. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Shop the story

When the Paris Fashion Week schedule was released last week, there were a handful of notable absences. This included Maison Margiela, which has recently begun a new chapter under Glenn Martens, the Belgian designer formerly of Y/Project (and currently of Diesel, which he designs alongside). Thus far, he has shown two collections: an Artisanal show in July, the house’s equivalent to haute couture, and a ready-to-wear offering this past October. Profiled in the March 2026 issue of Wallpaper* – which is on newsstands now – he said that for the latter he was seeking a feeling of reality that he sees as at the core of the Martin Margiela-founded house.

‘It’s a blessing to me that this house has ready-to-wear – I want people to wear Margiela,’ he said. ‘I want my staff to wear it on the street, and even if [in the show] there’s a bit of a set, or hair and make-up, at its core it’s about reality. To me, that’s very close to Martin [Margiela]’s founding principles – he was really creating clothes that were ready to wear.’

He also said he wanted the show to be ‘democratic’, drafting a local children’s orchestra to provide the soundtrack (an echo of Martin Margiela’s memorable S/S 1990 runway show, which was held in an abandoned playground in Paris’ 20th arrondissement and saw children from the area join models on the runway). This morning (10 February 2026), Martens is taking this one stop further: for A/W 2026, he is opening up the Maison Margiela Dropbox – comprising research for upcoming projects, internal imagery and the house’s archive – in a project titled ‘MaisonMargiela/folders’. He says the ambitious undertaking is ‘a fresh way to experience the work of the maison’, with archival material dating back to the house’s founding in 1988, some on show for the first time.

As part of the project, Maison Margiela has also announced it will show its A/W 2026 ready-to-wear collection in Shanghai, China, as part of the city’s fashion week, on 1 April 2026. In the month that follows, a series of exhibitions across China will explore the various ‘principles’ of the house, which were originally set out by Martin Margiela and co-founder Jenny Meirens. Most notably, anonymity – a defining tenet of Maison Margiela, which will be marked with an exhibition of the house’s masks in Beijing from 7-12 April (Martin Margiela remained anonymous throughout his career; in staff photographs, a seat was often left empty for the namesake designer).

Other exhibitions across the month include ‘Artisanal: Creative Laboratory’ in Shanghai (2-6 April), which will open just after the runway show and feature 48 pieces from the house’s Artisanal line dating from 1989 to 2025; ‘Tabi: Collector’s’ in Chengdu (9-13 April), comprising a series of personal collections of the house’s signature split-toe shoe; and ‘Bianchetto: Atelier Experience’ in Shenzhen (11-12 April), a celebration of the Maison Margiela hallmark of white-painted garments and accessories. At the last, guests will be able to bring their own garments to be transformed by the technique. ‘The core of the brand [is] the ideas, codes, and values that shape both our heritage and our futures,’ says the house.

‘MaisonMargiela/folders’ will be available to browse from today here, though the house says this will be an evolving platform – in the coming months, more will be added, including documentation of the exhibition’s construction. For those in China, the exhibitions are free and open to all – registration will begin on 17 March 2026.

‘MaisonMargiela/folders’ is available to browse here.

maisonmargiela.com

For the S/S 2026 season, the spotlight fell on 15 creative directors. After many months of abrupt departures, sudden arrivals and judicious role-swapping at Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga, Celine, Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Carven – plus new placements at Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, Mugler, Maison Margiela, Loewe, Jil Sander, Area and Proenza Schouler – those in question unveiled debut collections to an audience that had eagerly coined this unprecedented shift as ‘fashion’s great reset’. But every new beginning comes from another beginning’s end, as the saying goes. And across these debuts, it was the past that would define the future.

However, it was neither sycophantic nostalgia nor a simple rehashing of familiar codes that swept the runways. As the show notes written for Jonathan Anderson’s inaugural ready-to-wear womenswear collection at Dior stated: ‘Daring to enter the house of Dior requires an empathy with its history, a willingness to decode its language, and the resoluteness to put all of it in a box. Not to erase it, but to store it, looking ahead, coming back to bits, traces or entire silhouettes from time to time, like revisiting memories.’

Anderson, who bade farewell to Loewe in March 2025 after 11 years at its helm – a period in which he transformed the languishing Spanish brand into a zeitgeist-defining institution – chose Paris’ Jardin des Tuileries as the location for his highly anticipated reveal. Conceived by longtime Anderson collaborators, director Luca Guadagnino and production designer Stefano Baisi, the white cube-like set featured a pyramid at its centre, on which a video by Adam Curtis was projected. The British documentarian had applied his signature collaging technique to archival recordings of every creative director who had preceded Anderson. And the collection itself also traversed the house’s illustrious history. But whether a restructuring of the Bar jacket, its flared waist manipulated into a blossoming bow, or the cleverly skewed, shrunken proportions of the New Look silhouette, signature Andersonisms (abstracted shapes, off-kilter detailing, surrealistic millinery) made it clear that an ‘inevitable change’ had arrived.

At Celine, Michael Rider followed a similar tack for both his spring 2026 resort collection, which marked his debut, and the ready-to-wear that followed. Speaking backstage after the first presentation, the designer stressed that Celine’s new chapter wouldn’t be marked by ‘a sense of erasure’. He said, ‘There was a foundation to build on. That, to me, felt modern, ethical, strong.’ So, in both offerings, Céline Vipiana’s quintessential silks and entrenched house prints melded with a pinch of Phoebe Philo (oversized shoulders and soft draping, for example), with whom Rider worked during her tenure at the house. There was also a touch of Hedi Slimane’s youthful Parisian sensibility: denim jeans, leather biker jackets and a nod to the dress codes of the 1960s Left Bank. Equally, the Washington DC-born Rider, a former creative director at Polo Ralph Lauren, was claiming Celine as his own with design tropes belonging to preppy Americana: oversized varsity jerseys, leather lace-up pumps and white socks, and knits emblazoned with the brand’s equestrian logo.

At Maison Margiela, Glenn Martens said his S/S 2026 ready-to-wear offering would see ‘new design suggestions appear alongside reintroductions and evolutions of archival ideas’. Like Martin Margiela and the house’s late co-founder Jenny Meirens, Martens is Belgian, and his avant-garde approach was honed at Antwerp’s Royal Academy before taking the reins at Y/Project and Diesel. In the wake of former creative director John Galliano’s lauded era of dramatic spectacle, a gritty ambience returned. For the runway show’s soundtrack, Martens referred to Martin Margiela’s S/S 1990 presentation (held in the Paris suburbs, where local children ran freely among models’ Tabi-clad feet), while his collection put a slant on deconstructed tailoring, slashed and reworked denim, and slope-shouldered leather outerwear, worn by open-mouthed models, their lips stretched using metal mouthpieces evocative of the house’s signature four-stitch motif.

A sort of fashion relay took place at Gucci, Valentino and Balenciaga between Alessandro Michele, Pierpaolo Piccioli and Demna: Michele, formerly at Gucci, handed the baton to Demna, previously at Balenciaga, a house that Piccioli now heads up. For Gucci’s S/S 2026 presentation, Demna chose to save the runway for March this year, instead opting for a lookbook shot by Catherine Opie, titled La Famiglia. ‘La Famiglia is a study of the “Gucciness” of Gucci, an expression of the brand as a mindset and a shared aesthetic language,’ he said. Heritage – the Horsebit loafer, the Bamboo bag, the GG monogram – were now viewed through shades of previous creative directors Michele, Frida Giannini and Tom Ford, with Demna’s unmistakable witticisms the mark of fresh design territory.

Piccioli’s proposition for Balenciaga began with Cristóbal Balenciaga’s ‘minimalist maximalism’, taking the 1957 Sack dress as a starting point from which to unfold history. ‘It would be stupid to deny who has been here before: Demna, Nicolas Ghesquière, Cristóbal,’ he said of the collection, which infused his trademark romanticism with voluminous, cocooning shapes, peppered with a more austere, Ghesquièrian aesthetic.

Matthieu Blazy left Bottega Veneta towards the end of 2024, with Louise Trotter announcing she would be exiting Carven to replace him. Blazy was quickly named as Chanel’s new creative director. Both showed their first collections across September and October. And at Bottega Veneta, Trotter, in her words, ‘return[ed] to the beginning to find the present’. ‘The language of Bottega Veneta is intrecciato. And it is a metaphor,’ said the designer of her vision for S/S 2026. ‘It is two different strips [of leather] woven together that become stronger – the two things make a stronger whole.’ Bottega Veneta is rooted in Italian craft, and Trotter explored this with flair, manipulating fabrics in a continuation of Blazy’s love of movement and texture. Backstage after the show, Trotter also said that one of her inspirations for the collection was Laura Braggion, Bottega Veneta’s first female creative lead, who worked for the house from the 1980s to the early 2000s.

‘I was imagining her journey,’ she said. ‘Her freedom of being an Italian woman, an archetypal Italian woman, moving to New York. And what that experience meant. It was a liberation for her. And that’s what I wanted to capture – a feeling of liberation.’ In billowing trench coats, skirts and dresses, and the undulating, glistening fringing of ombré skirts and ‘sweaters’ formed from recycled fibreglass, the feeling was palpable.

And then, Chanel. Blazy’s invitation to the French fashion house marked the first time that a designer outside of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld’s inner circles would enter its ateliers (Virginie Viard, who had worked closely with Lagerfeld from the 1980s up to his death in 2019, would step down for his arrival). So whether to maintain or disrupt the status quo was a predicament for Blazy. ‘Either we do a clean, modern, by-the-codes, by-the-book Chanel show, and it’s a first step. Or we do this show as if it was our last,’ he told The Business of Fashion. ‘I took the last option. Let’s do a show as if it were the last one.’ Against a vast interplanetary set – an ode to Coco Chanel’s fascination with the cosmos – Blazy cast any staid or fusty remnants of Chanel aside. In their place, lightness and liberation; a breath of fresh air. ‘Above all, there is an idea of freedom, of a new universal dress and a borderless blending of styles,’ he said. ‘The inheritance of not just one Chanel woman, but rather, of Chanel women.’

Across 77 looks, there was a subversion of tailoring, with cues borrowed from Boy Capel, Coco Chanel’s English lover, with whom she would sometimes share a wardrobe; there was also a reimagining of the classic 2.55 bag, which appeared softer, as though crumpled under the weight of history. In a continuation of the trompe l’oeil trickery that Blazy was so fond of at Bottega Veneta, tweed was, in fact, not tweed at all, but thousands of tiny glass beads. The final look – a louche ecru silk T-shirt worn with a cascade of confetti-like organza flowers in the shape of a floor-length skirt – was met with rapturous applause.

The S/S 2026 season has seen fashion grapple with a wider question that it has, perhaps, been trying to avoid in recent years: in a culture of short attention spans, what does ‘newness’ even look like? The answer, for now at least, doesn’t seem to lie in the ‘gimmick’ or the ‘redux’, but in acknowledging the design methods of those who came before as a means to move forward. It’s a return to the art of making clothes and the importance of knowing history well enough to alter it.

A version of this story appears in the March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + now. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Model: Bernie Ross at Elite Model Management Actor: Vaslov Goom at Birdston Talent Management Casting: Lucy Rogers Hair: Michael Harding at Blend Management using Oribe Make-up: Sandra Cooke using Chanel Denim Collection and No.1 de Chanel Body Serum Manicure: Megan Cummings at Snow Creatives using Dior Manicure, Le Baume and Vernis Digi tech: John Cronin Photography assistants: Louise Oates, Tamibe Bourdanne Fashion assistant: Lucy Proctor Production assistants: Archie Thomson, Ady Huq, Indy Davy Photographed on location at The Lanesborough, London.

All change! It could serve as a mantra for the world right now, but, for the March 2026 Style Issue, we use it to describe the season’s unprecedented reordering of fashion’s high command. The S/S 2026 collections saw debuts by no fewer than 15 creative directors, giving our fashion team cause to focus on the idea of the ‘clean slate’. To this end, we profile two designers on their bold new starts: Glenn Martens, who takes over at Maison Margiela, one of fashion’s most influential houses; and Duran Lantink, whose boundary-pushing debut show for Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris had everybody talking.

Fresh chapters abound in other corners. We take a trip to Seoul to check out Wooyoungmi’s monolithic new flagship store as the Korean label enters a new phase; head to the Swiss Alps, where Hauser & Wirth’s hospitality arm Artfarm is breathing new life into a 16th-century guest house; and meet Ilaria Icardi, Prada’s womenswear design director, who recently launched an eponymous jewellery line.

For our regular digest of the season’s trends, The Glossary, we question what, in our current culture of short attention spans, does ‘newness’ look like? And ahead of a new show launching at MoMu Antwerp, we explore the legacy of the Antwerp Six, a group of radical Belgian designers who changed the global fashion landscape in the 1980s and 1990s.

Elsewhere, we explore the ‘unnatural natural’ new face arising from our Botox and filler fatigue, and highlight the fresh slant on men’s tailoring and womenswear that designers have been taking this season.

Finally, our resident design critic Hugo Macdonald administers a timely blast of fresh thinking to the tired old task of spring cleaning: a balm, he suggests, for both body and soul.

Bill Prince
Editor-in-Chief

The March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper* is available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 5 February 2025. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

On a still-warm Paris day last October, sunlight streamed through the vaulted glass ceiling of the Centquatre, an arts centre in the 19th arrondissement, where guests had gathered for Glenn Martens’ first ready-to-wear show for Maison Margiela. A former funeral parlour, completed in the late 1800s, the vast main hall had been transformed for the occasion: sheathed in trompe l’oeil white curtains and lined with benches – themselves wrapped in white fabric – the scene included a 61-piece orchestra, at that point empty of its players (this was also rendered in white, from its music stands to a dramatic grand piano, a nod to house founder Martin Margiela’s favoured hue). Such was the piercing brightness, many of the attendees kept on their sunglasses or simply squinted into the light.

Then arrived the orchestra: a merry band of children, clutching instruments and clad in ill-fitting suits, some so large that the hemlines dragged along the ground like the train of a dress. They played with gusto, blasting through classical music’s greatest hits – from the booming Sunrise fanfare from Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra to Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 – as models, lips prised open with metal mouthpieces, began to parade around the space. The sound was deliriously off-key and out of time, but the children were charming (hailing from Romilly-sur-Seine and aged seven to 15, they are part of Orchestre à l’École, which turns local classrooms into orchestras; some had been learning for just a few months).

There is a famous photograph of Martin Margiela’s S/S 1990 runway show, held in 1989 in an abandoned playground in Paris’ 20th arrondissement, then largely populated by North African immigrants. In it, smiling local children scamper among models’ feet as guests crouch – some visibly open-mouthed at the spectacle – along the runway. These days, it has become commonplace for designers to seek out obscure settings for their shows, but back then, it was a bold riposte to the glossy, amped-up offerings of the 1980s; its uneven floor, free-for-all seating and improvised electrics (the Margiela team begged those in surrounding apartments to allow them to plug in cables for lights and music) a far cry from the gilded hotel ballrooms typical of the era’s fashion weeks.

It was a reason, perhaps, for the scathing reviews that followed in the press, but for many in the room – including some of the next generation of fashion designers, like Raf Simons, who had snuck in – it was a revolution. ‘Martin’s was the first show I ever attended,’ Simons said in 2016. ‘I was so struck by everything I was seeing that I started to cry. I felt so embarrassed. I was like, “Look at the ground, look at the ground, everyone’s going to see you’re crying”. Like, how stupid to be crying at a fashion show. Then I looked around, and half the audience was crying.’

‘I wanted to do something democratic,’ says Martens, noting that, when it comes to ready-to-wear, he wants to do something real – ‘never precious’. The children’s orchestra was part of that: after all, Maison Margiela – or Maison Martin Margiela, as it was first founded by its namesake designer and business partner Jenny Meirens – has never been about perfection. Martin Margiela’s most memorable designs were those that had been torn apart at their seams or turned inside out; daubed with paint or constructed from disparate found objects, from broken plates to old butcher’s aprons. At both Y/Project – where Martens was for 11 years – and Diesel, where he is creative director, he has favoured a similar irreverence. For his S/S26 collection for Diesel, models were scattered in plastic ‘eggs’ around Milan; fabrics came from intriguing experiments in mixing satin and denim, or bonded jersey, purposely cracked and broken across its surface.

Martens thinks there is something Belgian about this approach. Martin Margiela was born in Genk in Belgium’s east, Martens in Bruges in the west; both ended up studying at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts (the institution also birthed the Antwerp Six, which would put Belgian fashion on the map). ‘In Belgium, it is always raining, but they still walk to a restaurant in their fanciest clothes and big boots, never taking a taxi,’ says Martens. ‘They drink wine out of a plastic cup; they are so not precious. It doesn’t mean they are not gorgeous and beautiful, but they are still going to walk their dog around the park.’ It was a mood he sought to encapsulate with the S/S 2026 collection, described as ‘a series of concepts and proposals for real life’ in the press notes. ‘So even with the really beautiful gowns, I want them to feel a bit off. It’s about reality.’

The S/S 2026 ready-to-wear collection was not the first collection that Martens had designed for Maison Margiela, or indeed shown: last July, he presented an Artisanal collection (the equivalent to other houses’ haute couture lines) during Haute Couture Week, which marked his debut proper. Held in the basement of the Centquatre, where peeling trompe l’oeil wallpaper evoked the faded grandeur of country manor houses – as if models had been dragged through the tattered walls of time – the collection was one of strange, undone opulence, drawing inspiration from the architecture of medieval Flanders. Billowing gowns were rendered in molten metallic organza, while Renaissance-inspired jacquards and leather embossed with motifs from 16th-century Flemish wallpaper were patchworked together. Finally, each look came with a mask – some embellished with crystals, others in hammered metal – a nod to a Margiela principle (masks featured throughout Martin Margiela’s collections, while the designer refused to reveal his own face).

Martens had furiously drawn the collection before he had even been confirmed in the role (though he was hotly tipped to be next in line). ‘I wanted to own that moment, so I designed everything completely myself,’ he says, noting that usually a collection will be formed through discussion with his design team. ‘So when I started, I came to the office with a full line-up: all the reference pictures, all the colours, all the fabric treatments. I needed to feel that the success or failure was mine and not somebody else’s.’

He would sign the final contract just a few weeks later in a service-station Burger King, driving back from a weekend spent renovating his country house near Paris. Not long after, Renzo Rosso, chairman of the OTB Group, which owns Maison Margiela, made the announcement (the OTB Group is also the owner of Diesel, so Martens and Rosso’s relationship is longstanding). ‘I have worked with Glenn for years, I have witnessed his talent, and I know what he is capable of,’ Rosso said.

With the appointment came the inevitable weight of expectation. Only two named designers have preceded him at Maison Margiela: the eponymous founder, and John Galliano, an industry titan whose theatrical shows for Dior have become fashion lore. The latter was at Maison Margiela from 2014-2024, a period defined by critically lauded runway shows that gleefully clashed Margiela tropes with Galliano’s own penchant for historical grandeur and voracious storytelling. Martens admits he was a tough act to follow, particularly after Galliano’s final Artisanal show in 2024. ‘It was celebrated as one of the best haute couture collections of all time, so it’s hard to come into the house after that,’ he says. ‘But on the other hand, you have everybody saying that you are perfectly matched for the role. So there was a lot of expectation.’

Nonetheless, his own Artisanal collection garnered wide acclaim from critics (‘Glenn Martens has come to save us,’ read the headline for Tim Blanks’ Business of Fashion review), as well as on social media – though, as with any high-profile debut, there was also spirited debate. ‘Some people were hating on it, but then others were saying it was fantastic, and everybody has something to say, even some 17-year-old TikTok influencer,’ says Martens. ‘So after the show, I took myself to my little house in the countryside and locked myself away for five days, trying not to think about it.’

He has since learned to largely avoid social media, though he is gratified when people find ways to tell him how much they love what he is doing. And he has no regrets. ‘It wasn’t a shy collection. If you do something loud, then of course you put yourself in the position of getting loud criticism back. With social media, it’s a learning process. I’m definitely maturing.’

After the Artisanal collection, the ready-to-wear felt something of a relief for Martens – a shift in focus from the fantastical to the real. ‘It’s nice to be in a house that has both,’ he says. ‘I can have these moments where I design for the pure sake of creativity and beauty, but I don’t have the urge to do these crazy artistic things in my ready-to-wear.’ So in that first ready-to-wear collection, as the young orchestra made their way through the classical greats, Martens presented a roll-call of Margiela hits of his own, influenced by the archive but with his own signature irreverence. Like those mouthpieces: reminiscent of the house’s four-stitch motif, they were a little kinky, a little weird, very Glenn. Clothes riffed on eveningwear in undone style: tuxedo jackets were worn with torn shirts beneath, while the looping neckline of a waistcoat informed the cut of outerwear. Fabrics, as ever, were an intriguing collage: tough swathes of leather met energetic collages of sequins and crystal embroidery, while the final dress appeared wrapped in plastic supermarket shopping bags – a Martin Margiela-esque gesture.

‘It’s a blessing to me that this house has ready-to- wear – I want people to wear Margiela,’ says Martens. ‘I want my staff to wear it on the street, and even if [in the show] there’s a bit of a set, or hair and make-up, at its core it’s about reality. To me, that’s very close to Martin’s founding principles – he was really creating clothes that were ready to wear.’

At the end of the show, the young orchestra took a rapturously applauded bow, but Martens himself did not emerge through the curtain to receive his own ovation. This is to do with tradition: as one of the house’s values is anonymity, and Martin Margiela did not reveal his own identity, subsequent creative directors have also eschewed the traditional runway bow. It might not be something that Martens himself is yet fully on board with: a recent H&M collaboration, which largely riffed on his hallmark pieces at Y/Project, saw the designer undertake a multi-city tour, including a trip to London that featured a press junket on the top deck of a bus (most of the collection sold out online within minutes, so it worked). In life, at least, he is – slowly – learning to step back from work.

‘When I first started at Diesel, I would do all-nighters, and was just constantly busy with my job. But now that I’m 42, I’m a bit better,’ he says. Much of the distraction comes from Murphy, a border terrier gifted to him by his Y/Project team when he left the brand. ‘The moment I come home, he just takes all the attention. If he wasn’t there, I’d probably still just be working all night.’ Nevertheless, he says, with a smile, that people in his life still protest that he doesn’t give them enough attention. ‘At both Diesel and Maison Margiela, they are always complaining that I am not there enough; and all the people in my private life say the same. But I am learning to juggle.’

Ultimately, he says he sees little point in complaining – he has ended up exactly where he wanted to be. ‘I’m blessed to be working at a job, and in an industry, that I still have a passion for. There aren’t many people who can say that their job is their passion. I’ve never complained about going to the office in the morning – it’s a joy ride.’

A version of this story appears in the March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available from 5 February in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Models: Ananda, Constance and Asher at Girl Management, Kate at HMM Paris, Cyprien at Select Model Management. Casting: Lisa Dymph Megens at Industry Art . Hair: Rimi Ura at Calliste. Make-up: Laure Dansou at WSM using Saie. Local producer: Clara Perrotte. Photography assistant: Arthur Jung. Fashion assistant: Jaime Butel. Hair assistant: Yui Hirohata. Make-up assistant: Inès Jegham. Production assistants: Jenna Florio, Gillian Bourgeois. Retouching: Lasso Studio.

This has been a watershed year in fashion. A quarter of the way through the 21st century, 2025 saw the industry hit refresh: in September alone, 15 designers made their debuts as creative directors of fashion’s major houses, ushering in a bold new era in style (and, as with any such change, prompting passionate – and oftentimes divided – online commentary).

Here, as selected by the Wallpaper* style team, are the 25 fashion moments that defined the zeitgeist in 2025 – from a viral Marty Supreme track jacket and Saint Laurent’s thigh-high wader boots, to big-name buyouts, runway returns and, of course, all those debuts.

Willy Chavarria made his mark in Paris with a powerful duo of shows

In January, CFDA Award-winning designer Willy Chavarria chose to shift his runway show from New York, where he lives and works, to Paris. A striking first show, held at the American Church on Quai d’Orsay, came just a few days after Trump’s inauguration, with Chavarria – whose runway shows have long been a clarion call for the rights of immigrants and the queer community – soundtracking the show with Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon imploring the incoming president to ‘have mercy’ towards marginalised communities. ‘It was so beautiful, and it fell exactly in line with what we were doing,’ he told Wallpaper* of the speech. ‘I wanted to show that everyone is welcome, and to do that in a church seemed like the most pronounced way of showing queer people, trans people, in this environment where they were the saints’. His sophomore Paris show, this summer, was similarly impactful: it opened with 35 kneeling men wearing white T-shirts made in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a reference to those being unlawfully detained by ICE in the United States.

READ: Willy Chavarria: ‘We’re still so stuck in fashion’s old guard’

Faux fur and shearling took over the runway

Not a moment, per se, though the proliferation of faux fur and shearling on the runway – spanning both the men’s and women’s collections – was one of the year’s undeniable style takeaways (so much so, we even spotted it on the spring/summer runways). ‘When worn, it becomes a heady meeting place of signifiers – luxury, wealth, power, but also protection, armour against the elements, an ancient and primal urge to be swaddled in the spoils of the hunt,’ we wrote earlier this year of the renaissance of fur – albeit in imitation fabrics – which seemed to a response to the tumult of contemporary living. Indeed, at Prada, where co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented a collection of ‘Raw Glamour’, ‘fur’ coats – constructed from cleverly manipulated shearling – had strange protusions at the collar or were trapped under plastic. ‘We asked ourselves, what is femininity today? It is a constant questioning,’ said Mrs Prada. ‘It is not my job to be political, but when you open a newspaper – oh my God! Our job is to think about what clothes a woman can wear, about what kind of femininity makes sense in this moment.’

READ: Faux fur and shearling dominated the A/W 2025 runways – these pieces capture the material’s ‘raw glamour’

Alessandro Michele entertained with a showstopping haute couture debut for Valentino

Haute couture was always going to be a medium which suited Alessandro Michele, the former Gucci creative director who now heads up Valentino. For his first couture collection for the house – presented this past February – the Italian designer, known for theatrical runway shows and richly imaginative collections, hit new heights, employing the ‘petits mains’ of the Valentino atelier to create a series of showstopping gowns. In a style typical to the deep-thinking designer, they were explained in the book-length collection notes through the language of philosophy and semiotics – Homer, James Joyce and Italo Calvino were all mentioned – with each gown representing a ‘list’ of words and influences (‘[lists] confine the infinite extension of the existing within a meaningful framework… to bring some order to the chaos of the universe,’ Michele wrote, quoting Umberto Eco). These surreal lists scrolled across the show’s set on a series of ticker-tape screens as the dramatic looks wandered across the stage, a millefeuille of satin, lace and tulle – eclectic, intricate and, as fashion sleuths showed after the show, rooted in the Valentino archive. ‘To attempt to describe each look – and its multitude of elements – would require a pages-long list of its own,’ we wrote at the time. ‘It was best to simply let yourself be entertained.’

READ: Inside Alessandro Michele’s showstopping debut haute couture show for Valentino

Martine Rose held her first gallery show – an ode to Bronski Beat’s radical energy

During London Fashion Week in February, Martine Rose hosted her first gallery show at Sadie Coles HQ, revisiting her 2016 film Everything Must Change – a Sharna Osbourne-shot short starring Bronski Beat frontman Jimmy Somerville. ‘Pop charts at the time I was introduced to Jimmy Somerville’s voice were dominated by gay musicians: Erasure, Bronski Beat, Marc Almond,’ Rose told Wallpaper*. ‘Mainstream pop by out and proud gay men making serious, respected pop music – not tokenistic – which can never be replicated. It was a radical time for music, all about individuality, no stylists, all genuine expression.’ It’s a statement that captures the radical, subculture-infused energy of Rose’s own work: later that year, in June, she staged a one-off show in an abandoned west London job centre, adorned for the occasion in boudoir-style ruffled curtains. ‘I was exploring this new shrunken silhouette,’ she said after the show. ‘Everything feels a bit cinched, a bit too tight, slightly awkward, but somehow still sexy, I hope.’ It is this idiosyncratic approach – at once strange, sexy and real – which has made Martine Rose one of London’s defining voices, doing things her own way for close to two decades.

READ: Martine Rose’s first gallery show celebrates the radical queer energy of Bronski Beat

Calvin Klein returned to the runway with a new ‘sexitude’

In February, Calvin Klein hosted its first runway show since the departure of Raf Simons in 2018 (under him, the runway collections went under the moniker Calvin Klein 205W39NYC; now, they are back to being called Calvin Klein Collection). In one of the year’s first notable debuts, it was former The Row designer Veronica Leoni who took the helm, seeking a mood of sensual minimalism she dubbed ‘sexitude’ – a nod to the pulsing undercurrent of eroticism which ran through the brand’s advertising campaigns and collections in the 1990s. ‘When it comes to sexiness, it’s more like an attitude,’ the Italian designer said backstage. ‘You own it in the way you wear the clothes. I think it’s really intimate being sexy – regardless of the silhouette, the amount of skin, it’s about the confidence.’ The collection came with the blessing of Mr Klein himself, who watched on from the front row. ‘He told me he was happy he had found a new coat to buy,’ she said. ‘I’m really proud for him to feel at home again.’

READ: For her Calvin Klein debut, Veronica Leoni stripped it all back

Fendi celebrated its centenary with a blockbuster show in Milan

2025 was a definitive year for Fendi: not only did it mark a century since the fashion house was founded in Rome, but, after the departure of artistic director of womenswear and couture Kim Jones in October 2024, the beginning of its new chapter. As such, in February, Fendi opened the doors to its newly renovated Milanese headquarters for a celebratory runway show, seeing house scion Silvia Venturini Fendi take the reins for the blockbuster spectacle which included a cast of Fendi muses, past and present. The granddaughter of house founders Adele and Edoardo Fendi, Venturini Fendi started at the house in the 1990s under Karl Lagerfeld, and would go on to head up menswear and accessories, though this was just the second time she had also designed the womenswear line (the first was after Lagerfeld’s death in 2019). Talking to Wallpaper*, she said that it was an honour to head up such a definitive show for both her family and the house – but was adamant this was not about living in the past: ‘I tried to avoid any precise reference because, to me, anniversaries are beautiful, but you don’t want it to be a retrospective or nostalgic’. After presenting a second co-ed collecti on in September, she stepped down from the creative role to become ‘honorary president’. Her successor will be former Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri in a much-rumoured move.

READ: Silvia Venturini Fendi on luxury, lineage and looking to the future: ‘If it reminds me of something we’ve already done, we move on’

Prada agreed to purchase Versace for $1.375 billion

The subject of much speculation and rumour after Donatella Versace stepped down from her role as creative director the month prior, in April, it was confirmed that the Prada Group reached an agreement to purchase Versace after the Italian house was put on sale by former owner Capri Holdings earlier in the year. Agreeing to a deal of $1.375 billion for 100 per cent of the company – well below the initial $2 billion asking price – it marked a definitive move from the Prada Group to establish an Italian luxury conglomerate (The Prada Group comprises Miu Miu, Church's and Car Shoe; in 1999, it purchased controlling stakes in Jil Sander and Helmut Lang, though they were later sold). ‘We are delighted to welcome Versace to the Prada Group and to build a new chapter for a brand with which we share a strong commitment to creativity, craftmanship and heritage,’ said Patrizio Bertelli, Prada Group chairman and executive director, at the time (the deal was completed in December). ‘We aim to continue Versace’s legacy, celebrating and re-interpreting its bold and timeless aesthetic; at the same time, we will provide it with a strong platform.’

READ: Donatella Versace is stepping down as creative director

The Met’s Costume Institute explored the figure of the Black Dandy

In a year which was notable for its slew of fashion exhibitions – from the confection-like gowns of ‘Marie Antoinette Style’ at London’s V&A to a Rick Owens retrospective featuring a lifelike sculpture of the designer ‘urinating’ water into a trough below – the Metropolitan Museum’s annual Costume Institute exhibition in May still demands the most attention. This is largely because of the accompanying Met Gala – the starry event heralds the exhibition’s opening – though it is also down to the Costume Institute’s head curator Andrew Bolton’s eye for finding intriguing subject matter in the Met’s extensive archive. This year, he drafted Monica L Miller, author of Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, to help curate the exhibition, which traced the sartorial history of the Black Dandy from the 18th century to the present day. Titled ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’, alongside historical garments, it featured the work – or personal wardrobes – of Virgil Abloh, Andre Leon Talley and Grace Wales Bonner, among others, with set design for the arresting exhibition courtesy of artist Torkwase Dyson. ‘I clocked into how people have fashioned themselves as a manipulation of autonomy and ownership in which clothing is a resistance,’ she told Wallpaper* of the design, which riffed on her signature trapezoid sculptures.

READ: Torkwase Dyson’s set design for ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ at The Met meditates on ownership, charisma and histories

Saint Laurent’s viral knee-high boots heralded menswear’s dark, sensual mood

At Cannes film festival, while promoting queer ‘dom-com’ Pillion – a film which explores a dom/sub relationship between a shy parking attendant and a biker – Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård donned a thigh-high leather wader boot by Anthony Vaccarrello for Saint Laurent. Shown at the house’s runway show earlier that year, it became one of the viral accessories of the year, worn by everyone from Pedro Pascal to Marc Jacobs, and ubiquitous in magazine spreads. Inspired by an imagined meeting between two men who designed the aesthetic of the 1980s – Yves Saint Laurent and Robert Mapplethorpe – the collection captured a mood of dangerous sensuality which ran throughout the season, from Prada’s patchworked leathers to Maximilian Davis’s S/S 2026 Ferragamo collection, inspired by the languid sensuality of Pina Bausch and the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Vaccarello dubbed it a ‘menacing, seductive elegance’ – classic menswear with an inflection of kink.

READ: Inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe, Saint Laurent’s surprise menswear show captured ‘a menacing, seductive elegance’

Homme Plissé Issey Miyake channelled la dolce vita in Florence

It would prove one of the most memorable show locations of the year: unfolding against a painterly Florentine sky at sunset, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake staged its S/S 2026 show at Medicea della Petraia, a former Medici residence on Monte Morello in the rolling Tuscan countryside. A guest of Pitti Uomo menswear fair, the Issey Miyake offshoot used the occasion to introduce a new roving format of runway show: eschewing its usual place on the Paris Fashion Week schedule (its position has been taken by IM Men, another brand in the Issey Miyake family), it will show in a series of locations around the world in the coming seasons. As such, collections will draw inspiration from local landscapes: here, it was done via an evocative use of colour, utilising hues sourced through trips the design team had taken around Italy (from ’Cinque Terre Yellow’ to ‘Zucchini Flower Orange’). The result was a collection which fused Italian charm with Homme Plissé’s pioneering fabrications: played out in the villa’s winding, maze-like gardens, it was impossible not to be seduced.

READ: With an ode to Italy, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake brings its brand of fashion magic to Florence’s Pitti Uomo

Rick Owens spread the love with a Paris retrospective

‘I’m surprised I got so far,’ Rick Owens told Wallpaper* in a wide-ranging conversation to mark the opening of ‘Temple of Love’, a career-spanning retrospective at Paris’ Palais Galliera. A celebration of the American designer’s singular approach – one laced with both subversion and wit – the exhibition took attendees on a trip from his early years on Hollywood Boulevard in the 1990s (a recreation of his Los Angeles bedroom of the time appears in the exhibition) towards his blockbuster spectacles at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo (indeed, in June, an opening party took place just after his S/S 2026 menswear show, with guests simply having to cross the road from one institution to another). ‘Michèle [Lamy, Owens’ wife] kept telling me, ‘You gotta stop calling it a retrospective!’ She doesn't like the finality – I'm leaning into it,’ he said. ‘A retrospective implies a decline, it makes you think about legacy and mortality and ageing, and how long do you stay relevant, and how important is that? I don't have the answers to any of those things, but I am thinking about them and addressing them publicly.’

READ: ‘I’m surprised that I got this far’: Rick Owens on his bombastic Paris retrospective, ‘Temple of Love’

Jonathan Anderson rebooted his brand – and debuted at Dior

It was a busy June for Jonathan Anderson. Alongside his much-anticipated debut show at Dior – a menswear offering for S/S 2026 presented at Paris’ Hôtel National des Invalides, which astutely reworked formal dress codes – the Northern Irish designer also revealed a rebooted vision for his eponymous, London-based label JW Anderson, which propelled him to renown after it was established in 2008. Doing away with the label’s usual seasonal runway shows, the new vision centres on the idea of the shop: in Paris, during haute couture week, he constructed a simulacrum of a new store concept by architects Sanchez Benton which included not only a fashion collection (a greatest hits of sorts, seeing signature pieces imbued with a greater commitment to craft) but a curation of intriguing objects and curiosities, from ceramics and vintage gardening tools to furniture, art, even honey. 'I like change. I have wanted to change things around for two years now, and finally I feel at one with who I am today and what the brand means,’ he told Wallpaper*. ‘It’s things that I either want to wear or want to live with.’

READ: Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut: ‘bringing joy to the art of dressing’

Craig Green returned to the runway – and to Paris

After just over a decade in business, Craig Green remains one of British fashion’s definitive voices – a singular creative force whose imaginative collections transform humble menswear archetypes (workwear, uniforms, biker jackets) through imaginative construction and unusual fabrications, oftentimes evoking sculpture. This year, he made his return to Paris Fashion Week, having shown a year prior in his London studio, and elsewhere via lookbook (Green is one of a handful of designers who seem to be flourishing outside of the typical fashion calendar). The show was one of our highlights of the year: a poetic, free-thinking collection inspired by The Beatles, psychedelics and 1960s bed sheets – albeit in his typically inventive style. ‘Creativity how everything moves forward,’ Green told us in the October 2025 ‘Long View’ issue of Wallpaper*, in which we documented the process behind the collection. ‘You need creative thought for things to progress, and for new things to happen. You have to have the freedom to make mistakes, to create work and not live in fear.’

READ: ‘You have to be fearless’: inside the free-thinking world of Craig Green

Glenn Martens unveiled his vision for Maison Margiela

The task was unenviable: as the new creative director of Maison Margiela, Belgian designer Glenn Martens would not only have to follow the house’s namesake – arguably the most influential designer of recent times – but also John Galliano, his predecessor, whose final collection, which conjured a troupe of contorted dolls on the drizzly moonlit banks of the Seine, was a true fashion epic. But Martens, who comes with a pedigree of his own after zeitgeist-defining stints at Y/Project and Diesel, was more than up for a challenge. His own creatures were sheathed in masks (a nod to a Margiela hallmark, that of anonymity) and appeared pulled through the the walls of history – quite literally, with a melange of jacquards, Renaissance motifs and embossed leather (inspired by 16th-century Flemish wallpaper), evoking the faded grandeur of abandoned stately homes (indeed, the show set was a series of ‘palatial interiors’ printed on crumpled and crased paper). We called it a ‘thrilling’ debut, a task of ‘reinvention and reconstruction – a precarious balance of what to take and what to leave behind’.

READ: Glenn Martens’ thrilling Maison Margiela debut was a balancing act between past, present and future

Fashion East celebrated a ‘rowdy and raw’ 25 years of nurturing emerging talent

In September, Fashion East’s S/S 2026 runway show doubled as a celebration: 2025 marked 25 years of the Brick Lane-based talent incubator, which was founded by Lulu Kennedy to help forge the careers of London’s rising stars. The roll call of names which have passed through its doors is proof of its success: Jonathan Anderson, Martine Rose, Kim Jones, Craig Green and Grace Wales Bonner are all alumni of the unique scheme, which has long encapsulated London’s unique brand of young talent – defiantly creative, ‘rowdy and raw’ (as Kennedy herself described in a letter distributed to guests at the show). Taking place at the ICA, this season’s show – comprising collections by Nuba, Jacek Gleba and Mayhew – doubled as a Nike-sponsored exhibition tracing Fashion East’s impressive quarter century through its memorable clothing and ephemera, from Green’s ‘broken-fence’ chestplates to a leopard-print cake by Mowalola. Later in the year, in December, Kennedy and her creative partner Raphaelle Moore collected a Special Recognition Award at the 2025 Fashion Awards. ‘We’re proud to have created a unique space where designers have both the freedom to create fearlessly, and a family unit to uplift them,’ they said.

September’s fashion week saw almost too many debuts to count

2025 was fashion’s big reshuffle, seeing an unprecedented number of designers making their debuts at fashion’s biggest houses – from Dior to Chanel, Gucci to Celine. It was September fashion month, though, that was a true changing of the guard moment, with over 15 designers presenting their first collections as newly installed creative leads. These spanned an energetic and playful debut from Nicholas Aburn at Area in New York (the former Balenciaga designer riffed on the figure of the party girl in irreverent style), Simone Bellotti’s masterful first outing at Jil Sander, which saw him astutely explore ideas of modernity and lightness (staged in the brand’s white-walled Milan headquarters, it was a true clean slate momet), or Pierpaolo Piccioli’s typically heartfelt first collection for Balenciaga (an appearance from the Duchess of Sussex ensured column inches).

Elsewhere, notable debuts included Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Glenn Martens at Maison Margiela, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe and Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier. And, while these debuts were largely lauded – particularly by critics – fiercer debates broke out online in the depths of Instagram comment sections. ‘I have read some really heinous comments about the work of many designers in these last few days,’ wrote Perfect magazine’s Edward Buchanan, former design director of Bottega Veneta, in a much-shared post. ‘It is not always perfect, and it is not always what you personally imagined it to be. You don’t have to like everything… but why not celebrate and talk about what you love?’

Though in Paris, it was Chanel and Dior which commanded the most attention

There were two debuts, though, which commanded the most attention: Jonathan Anderson’s womenswear debut for Dior (he had previously shown his first menswear collection in June) and Matthieu Blazy’s opening act for Chanel. Shrugging off the weight of expectation, both collections provided an astute and contemporary viewpoint on the future of two of fashion’s most storied houses – Anderson through a fearless ‘recoding’ of the house’s archive in his idosyncratic style (we said it was a collection of ‘bravery, vision and instinct’), Blazy through a collection of unbridled freedom and optimism (a twirling Awar Odhiang in a gown of kaleidoscopic feathers, the model who memorably closed the show, encapsulated the ‘triumphant’ mood). After Chanel, which marked the end of fashion month, we said that after all of the debuts, it finally felt like a ‘weight had been lifted’. ‘There will be no more anticipation or speculation, no more guessing games or gossip. The designers are in place, and a new chapter of fashion has begun – from there, the hard work begins.’

While Demna marked his Gucci debut with a Demi Moore-starring film

In what proved an astute move, the Georgian designer Demna – previously of Balenciaga – got ahead of the season’s other debuts by presenting his first collection as creative director of Gucci on the first day of Milan Fashion Week, allowing him a moment in which he dominated the narrative (and, of course, social media). Revealed first through a lookbook of Gucci ‘archetypes’, rewritten in his typically irreverent and subversive style (he called it a ‘bold, sexy new chapter’ for the house), it was followed up by a Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn-directed short, premiered at Milan’s Palazzo Mezzanotte. Titled The Tiger, it starred Demi Moore as the fictional ’head of Gucci international and chairman of California’ whose world begins to unravel at a family gathering. Even cleverer? Demna will get another ‘debut’ in 2026 when he holds his first runway for the house during Milan Fashion Week, in February.

READ: Gucci reveals its ‘bold, unapologetically sexy’ new era under Demna

The fashion world mourned the death of Giorgio Armani

In early September, the fashion world mourned the death of Giorgio Armani, an arbiter of Italian style who founded his eponymous house half a century ago, in 1975. One of fashion’s great success stories, Mr Armani began the label using funds made from selling his old Volkswagen Beetle; on his death, he left behind a multi-billion dollar empire spanning not only fashion but homeware, hotels, restaurants, fragrances and cosmetics. To mark his death, after a private funeral held earlier in the month, well-wishers gathered at Milan Fashion Week in September for his final Giorgio Armani show. Originally intended to celebrate 50 years in business, it took place at Brera’s Pinacoteca di Brera, where an accompanying exhibition unfolded in the galleries above. As ever, the S/S 2026 collection – modelled on a cast of Armani models past and present and watched on by muses Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton and Cate Blanchett – encapsulated Mr Armani’s brand of soft elegance, culminating with model Agnes Zogla in a glimmering gown adorned with his face. Afterwards, guests milled the galleries, where the designer’s work took its fitting place amid the great Italian masters – from Bellini to Raphael.

READ: In Milan, the fashion world gathers to say goodbye to Giorgio Armani at his final show

A Virgil Abloh exhibition celebrated his landmark legacy

Just over four years since his death, American designer Virgil Abloh leaves behind a towering legacy – one which was celebrated this September in Paris with the opening of an exhibition at the Grand Palais. Open for just a few days (cue a sold out booking system and snaking queues around the block), the exhibition opened the doors to his prolific archive of objects, clothing, ephemera, furniture and art, displayed across sprawling tables and shelves as if stepping into his headquarters. Indeed, one senses the polymathic designer – who made history as the first Black creative director of Louis Vuitton – would enjoy the exhibition’s approach, which eshewed the behind-glass formality of the traditional museum (only self-restraint stopped you from picking up the objects on display). Titled ‘Virgil Abloh: The Codes’, the idea is for it to go on display around the world. ‘This is a true celebration of Virgil's vision and ethos,’ said the late designer’s wife, Shannon Abloh. ‘This offers an invitation to the world to engage and to build upon his ideas.’

READ: Inside the Paris exhibition cataloguing Virgil Abloh’s extraordinary archive

Grace Wales Bonner is appointed at Hermès

In late October, Hermès announced the appointment of Grace Wales Bonner as the house’s head of menswear, replacing Véronique Nichanian who made the choice to step down from the role after a record-breaking 37-year tenure (the longest of any working creative director at a fashion house). It felt long overdue for the British designer. An LVMH Prize-winning designer whose deeply felt collections for her eponymous label Wales Bonner – exploring themes of Black masculinity, migration and luxury – have consistently won plaudits for rich storytelling and meticulous craftsmanship, leading many to question why she hadn’t been chosen for a creative director role sooner (she had been rumoured for roles at both Louis Vuitton and Givenchy which went to Pharrell Williams and Sarah Burton respectively). On social media, there was a rare positive consensus on the decision: in her own post, the designer, who was born in South London to a British mother and Jamaican father, expressed her ‘deep honour’ at being chosen for the role. ‘It is a dream realised to embark on this new chapter, following in a lineage of inspired craftspeople and designers,’ she wrote.

READ: Lauded British designer Grace Wales Bonner is the new head of menswear at Hermès

1980s ‘architect of glamour’ Antony Price returned to the runway

The fashion critic Alexander Fury – who is an avid collector of his work – has called Antony Price, a British fashion designer who came to prominence in the 1980s, as ‘criminally underrated’. Best known for creating the visual universe of Roxy Music, and staging similarly dramatic runway shows in the decade, the ‘architect of glamour’ made a welcome runway return in November, courtesy of a one-off salon show with London-based label 16Arlington. Staged in the latter’s east London studio, the high-profile cast – from Lily Allen to Adwoa Aboah – prowled the runway in the high-voltage creations, puffing on cigarettes before posing for photographer Felix Cooper. ‘I personally felt Antony never really received his flowers,’ Capaldo told Wallpaper*. ‘To have been able to witness such a legend at work has probably been one of the most incredible and pivotal moments in my career. It's been really magical.’ Sadly, it was announced that Price passed away at the age of 80 on 17 December 2025.

READ: ‘Architect of glamour’ Antony Price makes a high-voltage return to the runway with 16Arlington

Dario Vitale said goodbye to Versace

It was to be one of fashion’s shortest tenures – just a few short months after his debut, in December, it was announced that Italian designer Dario Vitale would be exiting Versace. The former design director of Miu Miu, and the successor to Donatella Versace, the news came as some surprise: Vitale’s debut show at Milan Fashion Week, though divisive, had won over critics and was already being worn by celebrities (Olivia Dean wore custom Versace for a recent SNL appearance, while Addison Rae was also an early adopter). We said that Vitale had ‘stripped back conceptions and ushered in an energetic new vision: sexually charged and ‘reckless’, one that harkened back to the dress codes of Gianni Versace without nostalgia.’ On social media, the announcement came with some disappointment at the way in which designers are given so little time to make their mark: ‘There’s a disturbing pattern across the fashion industry: giant companies, plucking creative directors, placing them on a pedestal, parading them as the future, and then discarding them just as quickly,’ wrote casting director Anita Bitton in a much-shared Instagram post.

In Vienna, there was a chance to see Helmut Lang’s fashion archive for the first time

Though he exited the industry 20 years ago, Helmut Lang’s influence on fashion remains palpable. A definitive figure of the 1990s, he proposed a vision of sensually-charged minimalism and utility which continues to define the way that we dress today. He also changed the way we consume fashion, too: his memorable New York runway shows stripped back the artifice of the 1980s and its elevated runway, drafting friends to walk alongside supermodels, while stripped-back campaigns were captured by a young Juergen Teller. This revolutionary spirit is celebrated in ‘Séance de Travail 1986-2005’, an exhibition which opened in December at MAK in Vienna, which marks the first time Helmut Lang’s fashion archive is on show to the public – from memorable garments to archival film, ephemera, even recreations of elements from his equally definitive stores (Lang donated his archive to the institution in 2011). ‘Looking at Helmut Lang’s store architecture, it became obvious: his stores were all about directing the gaze. This is also what exhibitions need to do, but here it was essential. A photo wouldn’t suffice; you have to experience it,’ curator Marlies Wirth told Wallpaper* of the exhibition, which is designed to immerse you in the Lang universe – all the way down to the floor, which features a seating plan from a runway show.

READ: Inside Helmut Lang’s fashion archive in Vienna, which still defines how we dress today

Marty Supreme birthed the year’s viral garment – thanks to Timothée Chalamet

The Marty Supreme press tour has already come with some memorable sartorial moments – the film’s star Timothée Chalamet and girlfiend Kylie Jenner in matching orange Chrome Hearts for one – though it was more humble track jacket which went viral in December (the Josh Safdie-directed film is out on Christmas Day in the United States). The nylon windbreaker, created by the film’s production company A24 alongside California-based label Nahmias, was part of a merch drop for the film – adorned with ‘Marty Supreme’ and three gold stars, Chalamet has barely taken it off since. Pop-ups in New York and London have seen queues around the block to lay their hands on the $250 jacket – with resale sites selling the garment for up to for up to £4,366 (that’s over 20 times its original price). It speaks not only to A24’s marketing prowess, but also to the rise of movie merch – at the end of 2024, Mary Cleary explored its rise for Wallpaper*. ‘How it will continue to play out is yet to be seen, but one thing is almost certain: movie merch will continue to take over fashion,’ she wrote – and was right.

With its split-toe construction, the Maison Margiela Tabi boot has become one of fashion’s most notable – and indeed divisive – pieces of footwear.

First shown as part of Martin Margiela’s debut runway show in 1989, the provocative style saw the Belgian designer draw inspiration from traditional Japanese tabi socks, which he had discovered on a trip to Tokyo. Dating back to the 15th century and originally crafted from leather, the split-toe socks were designed to accommodate the thong construction of geta and zori sandals.

Discover a rare pair of Maison Margiela Tabi boots

‘Imagine the stress of creating a shoe that has never been seen before,’ the elusive designer recounted in the 2020 Reiner Holzemer-directed film ‘Martin Margiela: In His Own Words’ (in true anonymous style, the designer appeared only via voiceover). ‘Then my memory went back to the day we went to Tokyo for the first time, and we saw the street workers in their flat cotton tabi shoes. I thought, okay, why shouldn’t I do a soft tabi shoe but on a high heel?’

At the S/S 1989 show, they were splattered with red paint in order to leave their distinctive, hoof-like footprint on the white runway (‘I thought the audience should notice the new footwear. And what would be more evident than its footprint?’ he said on the occasion of the 2015 MoMu exhibition ‘Footprint – The Track of Shoes in Fashion’). The Tabi would appear in various iterations throughout the designer’s career – at first through necessity as a cash-strapped young designer who could not afford endless new lasts (his A/W 1989 shoe saw the same shoes recreated in loops of packing tape), and then due to their ubiquity in avant-garde circles.

‘In the beginning, there was no budget for a new form, so I had no other choice than to continue with [the Tabi] if I wanted shoes,’ he said, also in 2015. ‘But after several collections, people started asking for them. And they wanted more… and they didn’t stop asking, thank God.’

After the eponymous designer left the house in 2008, the style continued to evolve (you can now purchase not only heels but brogues, loafers and flip flops, among others), including under Margiela’s successor, John Galliano. Memorably, he split the toe of cowboy boots and vertiginous heeled pumps, the latter a collaboration with Christian Louboutin. Meanwhile iterations of the Tabi appeared in Glenn Martens’ first two collections for Maison Margiela – ready-to-wear and artisanal, respectively – shown earlier this year in Paris (the Belgian designer is the house’s current creative director).

And this week, Maison Margiela is launching a new initiative titled the ‘Tabi Collector’s Series’, whereby each year the house will release a new iteration of the classic boot with a focus on handcraft (think of it as the haute couture of Tabis). For its launch, a shimmering ‘broken-mirror’ boot will be available in an edition of just 25 worldwide, with each pair adorned with 8,000 glass beads, sequins and metallic shards in a painstaking act of hand embroidery.

The metallic shards – evoking the ‘broken mirror treatment’ which first appeared in Galliano’s A/W 2015 artisanal collection for the house – are each laser-cut to recall the ‘fractured surface of aged glass’ and purposefully patinaed to appear oxidised. Alongside the launch, a short documentary by Italian filmmaker Yuri Ancanari traces the history and craft behind the Tabi, ‘heralding the shoe as a work of art’. Watch the film below.

Limited to 25 pairs worldwide, the Tabi Broken Mirror Embroidery will be displayed in selected stores from 30 October 2025, including London’s Bruton Street. Available on a first-come-first-served basis, initial pairs will be offered to Tabi collectors, with the remaining pairs going on general sale.

An imagined meeting between photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and couturier Yves Saint Laurent – two men responsible for honing the aesthetic of the 1980s – provided the inspiration for Anthony Vaccarello’s A/W 2025 menswear collection for Saint Laurent, presented in the Tadao Ando-designed rotunda of Paris’ Bourse de Commerce earlier this year. Hanging chandeliers – lowered to just a few feet from the floor – lent the space a moody half-light, inspired by those which hung in the ballroom of Paris’ Intercontinental Hotel, where Yves Saint Laurent held his couture shows from 1976 onwards.

Out of the darkness emerged his protagonist for the season: part-Yves Saint Laurent in ‘bookish’ houndstooth and flannel tailoring, a recreation of his distinctive Parisian uniform, part-Mapplethorpe in the thigh-high leather boots worn atop, inflected with the suggestion of kink that ran through his photographic oeuvre (Mapplethorpe remains best-known for his homoerotic male nudes, which often featured elements of fetish and BDSM-wear, from leather boots, chaps and harnesses to gimp masks and latex). Vaccarello described the collection as capturing ‘a menacing, seductive elegance’, further figured in hefty leather overcoats and flourishes of ‘fur’ (in fact, these pieces were constructed from thousands of meticulously placed feathers).

Dangerous elegance: A/W 2025’s new menswear mood

This feeling of ‘menacing elegance’ ran through the season, with 1980s-inflected designs capturing a mood of dangerous sensuality through moments of leather, denim and western-wear, often clashed with classical tailoring or corporate attire. At MM6 Maison Margiela, tasselled leather gilets and pants looked to have stepped out of a Karlheinz Weinberger photograph; at Versace, slick leather tailoring was worn with silk shirts adorned with animal prints and baroque motifs; while at Prada, an influence of western-wear came in cowboy boots tweaked upwards at the toe, and tailoring made from a patchwork of leather. Playing out amid a scaffold show set designed to evoke the intimacy of a nightclub, co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons called it a collection of ‘instinct and passion’.

Here, taken from the cover shoot of the September 2025 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, a series of these looks is captured by French photographic duo Melanie + Ramon and Wallpaper* fashion and creative director Jason Hughes. Together, they encapsulate the A/W 2025’s dangerous, sensual mood – an invitation to embrace a sense of risk when dressing for the season ahead. Our short film of the shoot, above, plays out to the voice of a young Marlon Brando, as recorded in an early screentest for Rebel Without a Cause (the part later went to James Dean).

Model: Colin O at Tomorrow Is Another Day. Casting: Noah Shelley at Streeters. Hair/grooming: Michael Harding at Blend Management using Davines. Digi tech: Grzegorz Stefanski. Photography assistants: Joe Conway, Jason Colledge. Fashion assistant: Anna Sweasey. Production assistant: Danielle Quigley. Retouching: Courtoisie.

A version of this story appears in the September 2025 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

His task was unenviable: to follow two of fashion’s most influential – and singular – designers, Martin Margiela and John Galliano, both much referenced, and in the fashion world, beloved. But on a warm evening in northern Paris last night (9 July 2025), far from the preen and polish of the A/W 2025 haute couture shows in the 1st arrondissement, Belgian designer Glenn Martens delivered a thrilling debut collection as creative director of Maison Margiela, which promised to ‘reclaim [the house’s DNA] with elegance’.

The show unfolded in the subterranean basement of Le Centquatre – a cultural centre in the city’s 19th arrondissement – where guests took their seats in various rooms amid a paper collage evoking what Martens said (somewhat cryptically) were ‘six different palatial interiors’. Crumpled, creased, and peeling from the walls like posters, they evoked Martin Margiela’s love of trompe l’oeil but also suggested a kind of faded grandeur – contemporary art installation and stately home all at once.

Glenn Martens’ Maison Margiela debut

Prior to the show, Martens had told Vogue Business that he felt as if Martin Margiela’s legacy had been referenced ad infinitum: ‘I love this house for its founding DNA, but definitely a lot of that DNA has been fully plundered; literally plundered,’ he said. It is something from which even he is not immune – his 11-year tenure at Y/Project was certainly influenced by his compatriot’s deconstructionist impulses.

And in the show, Martens did embrace one of Martin Margiela’s most enduring motifs: the mask, which first appeared in the Belgium designer’s S/S 1989 debut collection, held at a Parisian nightclub, and would become symbolic of his own desire for anonymity (Martin Margiela would not appear in public or undertake personal interviews, only replying to questions via fax as a collective ‘we’ of the Margiela atelier). Here, the masks came in battered metal, adorned with shattered crystals, or were constructed from feathery slices of sheer organza or appliquéd lace.

But there was new opulence to Martens’ vision. The designer said he had been looking towards the ‘medieval architecture and atmosphere of Flanders and the Netherlands’, which was conjured in rich layers of fabric manipulation. There were enormous undulating gowns in ripples of molten metallic organza, others that dramatically pinched the waist or appeared to be painted to evoke stone – ‘statuesque forms evoke the (saintly) figures of church façades’, read the collection notes – while a rich melange of jacquards, printed Renaissance motifs and embossed leather, recalling 16th-century Flemish wallpaper, were sliced and patchworked together. In the sense of collage, garments seemed to exist outside of time completely – a balancing act between past, present and future.

The collection was part of Maison Margiela’s Artisanal line, an elevated, couture-adjacent offering that is nonetheless largely constructed from found objects (it was inaugurated in 2006, long before the word ‘upcycling’ had even entered fashion parlance). Early collections were constructed from antique lace and worn-in blue jeans, or the silk of linings, and here Martens undertook a similar task – prior to the show, he said that much of the collection’s materials had come from garments sourced at Guérissol, a chain of Parisian thrift stores. Even the masks had been shaped from discarded metal boxes, while other looks were intricately pieced together from old costume jewellery. Here, carefully treated, they became something spectacular.

A reverence for the past has long been a part of the Maison Margiela project – from the house’s very beginnings, Martin Margiela treasured found objects, even as he took them apart to reimagine them anew. At Maison Margiela, several decades on, Martens faces a similar task of reinvention and reconstruction – a precarious balance of what to take and what to leave behind. With this confident debut, he seems to have already figured it out.

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Representing the very pinnacle of Parisian fashion – a dizzying haze of gowns, celebrity attendees and theatrical presentations designed to tempt a handful of wealthy clients – Haute Couture Week arrives next Monday in the French capital with plenty of moments to look out for. Because, while haute couture remains the preserve of the ultra-rich, its focus on superlative savoir-faire and fantastical design means there are true fashion thrills to be had – ones that so often filter down into the style zeitgeist.

Notably, these include the arrival of Glenn Martens at Maison Margiela – following the highly lauded tenure of John Galliano – and the swansong of Demna at Balenciaga before he border-hops to his new role at Gucci in Italy. There will also be the final Chanel collection to be designed in-house before the arrival of Matthieu Blazy, who will debut during ready-to-wear week in September, and the reveal of ‘new beginnings’ at JW Anderson. Elsewhere, Dior will press pause on showing at haute couture week (new creative director Jonathan Anderson will make his debut in the medium next January), alongside Valentino and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Here, Wallpaper* breaks down five of Haute Couture Week A/W 2025’s expected standout moments – stay tuned for live coverage, beginning next Monday on wallpaper.com (7 July 2025).

Glenn Martens will show his first collection for Maison Margiela

Though he has big shoes to fill – predecessor John Galliano’s ten-year tenure at Maison Margiela provided some of the most memorable runway moments of recent times – Glenn Martens comes with the goodwill of the industry, after a stellar tenure at Y/Project (he also is creative director at Diesel, a role he will continue alongside Maison Margiela). With the runway show scheduled for Wednesday evening as couture week’s final act, little has been revealed about what we can expect – neither Martens nor Maison Margiela have posted any kind of teaser – though expect a focus on deconstruction (a hallmark of both Maison Margiela and Martens’ work) through a subculture-inflected lens. ‘I feel extremely honoured to join the amazing Maison Margiela, a truly unique house that has been inspiring the world for decades,’ Martens said after the appointment, which was announced in January after Galliano’s departure.

READ: Glenn Martens is headed to Maison Margiela as the house’s new creative director

A new vision for JW Anderson will be revealed

Fresh off his acclaimed debut collection for Dior – which saw him ‘decode and recode’ the house’s archive – Irish designer Jonathan Anderson is undertaking a similar act of reinvention for his own label, JW Anderson, which remains based in London. He will reveal his new vision on Monday afternoon in Paris, having teased ‘new beginnings’ on Instagram for the past weeks – including a newly refreshed store design, labels, packaging, and what looks like an edit of homeware (from jugs and chairs to JW-branded trowels). Seeming to err towards a mood of British craft and timelessness, the glimpses of clothing have followed a similar track, from woollen plaid kilts and striped polo tees to cable-knit sweaters and workwear jeans. Though a sweater collaboration with Berlin-based queer artist Dean Sameshima, reading ‘Anonymous Trade’, confirms that the frisson of subversion that has long defined Anderson’s work remains.

Demna will hold his Balenciaga swansong

It has become increasingly rare for creative directors to have the opportunity to host a ‘final show’ after their departure from a house – in recent seasons, exits have largely taken immediate effect, with the reins being handed straight over to a successor or in-house design team. For Balenciaga’s Demna, his transformative tenure at the house is being celebrated by a final haute couture show, unfolding in the original restored haute couture salon on Tuesday (this is likely because he is moving to another house in the Kering roster, Gucci, rather than one under a competitor conglomerate). Expect a typically contemporary vision of haute couture from the Georgian designer, a medium that has perhaps been the highlight of his decade at the house. ’We’ve become numb to the beauty of the world. Why don’t we see the beauty anymore?’ he told Wallpaper* of his haute couture approach. ‘We need it to survive.’

READ: ‘What is beauty?’: Balenciaga’s Demna on creating thoroughly modern haute couture

Dior will take a pause from showing

Though Anderson hosted his opening act at Dior last week – showing his inaugural menswear collection for the house on Friday afternoon – fans of the newly refreshed vision will have to wait a little longer to see his first haute couture collection, which represents the pinnacle of Dior’s oeuvre (after all, the house’s namesake Christian Dior is arguably the most famous couturier of the 20th-century). Taking a rare pause from the schedule, Anderson is expected to make his couture debut next January for S/S 2026, though Dior is not entirely without a haute couture collection – Maria Grazia Chiuri’s final Cruise show in Rome included a number of couture looks, which will likely be offered to clients this July in a series of private appointments.

The couture heavyweights will show throughout the week

Rounding out the schedule will be outings from a trio of haute couture heavyweights: Schiaparelli, Chanel and Armani Privé (Valentino will not show, having shifted to a once-a-year schedule for couture, while Jean Paul Gaultier awaits the arrival of new creative director Duran Lantink). At Schiaparelli, American designer Daniel Roseberry will continue to hone his sculptural, theatrical vision for the house – which has amassed a legion of devotees and spawned a ready-to-wear line – while at Chanel, it will be the final outing for the in-house design studio before Matthieu Blazy’s tenure begins with a debut womenswear collection in September. Meanwhile, at Armani Privé, after Giorgio Armani did not appear for his final bow at his menswear shows in Milan – a note from the house said he was recovering at home after a recent hospitalisation – guests will hope the designer will be back in full health for the presentation, which takes place on Tuesday evening.

Glenn Martens is the new creative director of Maison Margiela, it has been announced this morning (28 January 2025). Having exited Y/Project after 11 years at the helm this past September, Martens – who for now will retain his role as creative director of Diesel – replaces John Galliano, who left Maison Margiela after a ten-year tenure this past December.

The house said Martens will write ‘the next chapter of the house, building on its unique codes and brand values’, following the critical success of Galliano, who brought a showman’s flair to the avant-garde label (his spellbinding final runway show, staged on the banks of the River Seine, was cinematic in its conjuring of series of figures that looked straight from a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painting).

Glenn Martens is Maison Margiela’s new creative director

Martens was born in Bruges, Belgium, and studied at the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He is best known for his deconstructed and distressed denim, alongside clever plays on wardrobe archetypes, which might be warped or twisted in their proportions. At Diesel, he has brought new energy to the Italian denim-wear label, often staging vast runway shows that are open to the public.

‘I have worked with Glenn for years, I have witnessed his talent, and I know what he is capable of,’ OTB chairman Renzo Rosso said this morning (the OTB group is a fashion conglomerate that owns Maison Margiela, alongside Diesel and a slew of other brands). ‘After Martin [Margiela], who gave life to the maison and its unique Artisanal line, and John, who made it the most cutting-edge couture house in the world, I am proud to have a third couturier at its helm. Glenn, who studied at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts like Martin, has already shown his prowess and his vision in couture.’

Maison Margiela was founded by the house’s namesake, the Belgium designer Martin Margiela, in 1988. A riposte to the high-wattage glamour of the decade, Martin Margiela was an early proponent of deconstruction, the act of taking apart a garment and reconstructing it in new ways, as well as working with found objects. Memorable pieces include the split-toe ‘Tabi’ boot, which drew on traditional Japanese footwear; other garments were constructed from wigs, broken plates, or recalled the form of a dressmaker’s mannequin.

‘I feel extremely honoured to join the amazing Maison Margiela, a truly unique house that has been inspiring the world for decades. And I thank Renzo for the trust he is putting in me,’ said Martens this morning.

With no word as yet as to when his first show will take place, Martens joins a number of new arrivals at major labels, including Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Sarah Burton at Givenchy, and Haider Ackermann at Tom Ford.

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It’s almost a year to the day since Pat McGrath’s make-up for Maison Margiela Artisanal 2024 went stratospherically viral: a look that transformed John Galliano’s cast of models (including Gwendoline Christie and Leon Dame) into living porcelain dolls with ‘glass skin’ that appeared almost hyperreal.

The haute couture collection itself, held in Paris under the arches of the Pont Alexandre III, was a career-defining moment for Galliano, who has since announced his departure from Maison Margiela after ten years at the helm. Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss described the show as an ‘invitation to fall in love with the fantasy of fashion all over again’.

Pat McGrath Labs’ Skin Fetish: Glass 001 Artistry Mask

It was also a landmark moment in the long-standing collaborative relationship between Galliano and McGrath, who pioneered beauty as an avant-garde and integral component in a runway show during the 1990s and 2000s. Of course, the internet didn’t exist in its current form back then. But if it had, you can bet that McGrath’s work from this time would have done numbers on Instagram and TikTok.

In the case of Maison Margiela Artisanal, social media users were particularly eager to learn exactly how Dame McGrath had created a lacquered canvas, with many taking matters into their own hands and experimenting on social media. But today (23 January 2025), McGrath’s namesake beauty brand Pat McGrath Labs has announced the imminent launch of an official product that seamlessly replicates the multi-step and top-secret formula.

Skin Fetish: Glass 001 Artistry Mask (which Wallpaper* previewed as a prototype in our 2025 Design Awards issue) is a peel-off, pore-blurring gel containing ingredients such as hydrating glycerin, rose flower water and allantoin. It delivers ‘the same hypnotic, light-catching finish that left the beauty world spellbound’, the brand said in a statement.

‘Glass Skin 001 is my love letter to the Maison Margiela runway,’ adds Pat McGrath. ‘This formula captures the brilliance of that iconic moment, delivering hyper-shiny, lacquered radiance and an ethereal glow in minutes. It’s beauty reimagined for makeup lovers everywhere. Wear it, love it, make it yours.’ Below, read her instructions on how to use the product, which is available to buy from 30 January 2025.

How to Use Pat McGrath Labs’ Skin Fetish: Glass 001 Artistry Mask

1. Use the Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Blurring Brush to apply thin, even layers across your face.

2. Allow each layer to dry completely to a touchable finish before applying the next.

3. Once fully dried, the mask forms a smooth, lacquer-like film that can be easily peeled off.

4. Apply over make-up or on bare skin for ultimate versatility.

Pat McGrath Labs’ Skin Fetish: Glass 001 Artistry Mask, £37, is available from January 30 2025 exclusively on patmcgrath.com.

In 2006, Martin Margiela brought his eponymous maison to Florence for a one-off show at the then-disused Teatro Puccini, a former cinema built to entertain workers of the vast tobacco factory next door. Presenting his ‘menswear line 10’ (led by designer Sebastian Meunier), the event was touted as a ‘white out’, with the theatre’s interior painted matte white for the occasion (white was long Margiela’s favoured hue). Models arrived on white scooters or in white limousines; in lieu of a traditional runway show, models briefly darted through the gathered crowd before picking up a drink at the bar and partying long into the night.

The occasion was part of Pitti Uomo, the historic Florentine menswear fair that each season invites a series of ‘guest designers’ to host runway shows across the city (running since the 1970s, previous editions have hosted Raf Simons, Martine Rose, Jean Paul Gaultier, Thom Browne, Telfar, Grace Wales Bonner, and several others). Two decades on, marking the beginning of men’s fashion month, it was the turn of MM6 Maison Margiela – the Maison Margiela offshoot which launched in 1997 as a more approachable offshoot of the avant-garde house – to play guest star at the event, as well as marking its very first dedicated menswear show (typically MM6 hosts a co-ed show in Milan during womenswear week).

MM6 Maison Margiela at Pitti Uomo A/W 2025

The MM6 team, which is run as a collective rather than having named designers, chose the Tepidarium del Roster – a 19th-century glasshouse in the city’s Giardino dell’Orticoltura – to host the A/W 2025 show. With standing-room-only (an echo of Martin Margiela’s anarchic early shows for the house) guests clamoured to see the nightlife-inflected looks, which MM6 described as ‘an exercise in masculine dressing, the MM6 Maison Margiela way... straightforward, item-driven and eminently not narrative.’

As such, the collection evoked a mood rather than anything more thematic, with various textures of black – from glossy leathers and plastified knits to opulent velvet – and narrow tailoring lending a satisfyingly sleazy, after-dark mood reminiscent of the louche on-stage uniforms of bands like Suede and Pulp (indeed, the latter’s ‘This is Hardcore’ provided the show’s soundtrack). The team said they had also been inspired by photographs of Miles Davis, as well as Leopold von Sacher-Maso’s sadomasochistic novel Venus in Furs. Leather gloves and wipe-clean fabrications were a nod to kink.

‘A sensual vision of the man as both the subject and the object of desire,’ the collective concluded of the show, which marked the continuing expansion of the label, which in recent seasons has enjoyed a resurgence, helped by the success of John Galliano’s vision for Maison Margiela (a role he left in December 2024) alongside buzzy collaborations with Salamon, Supreme and Timex. At the show’s end, the models dispersed into the crowd towards the bar, where the party continued. In the dark of the dancefloor, the clothes looked more than at home.

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Beauty and fashion are close bedfellows. But in 2024, this relationship got even cosier, with a litany of turbocharged crossovers between the two disciplines.

The year began with Pat McGrath’s viral porcelain doll make-up for John Galliano’s tenure-defining Maison Margiela Artisanal S/S 2024 show. Later, during September’s S/S 2025 show season, Olivier Rousteing welcomed the much-anticipated Balmain Beauty. (As well as releasing a line of perfumes called ‘Les Éternels’, the Balmain runway collection included clothes and accessories directly referencing the fragrance bottles, alongside yet-to-be-released products such as lipsticks and eyeshadows).

In October, Celine debuted its first-ever beauty line, with a red lipstick called ‘Rouge Celine’, designed by Hedi Slimane. (Slimane announced his departure from the house soon after). During the same month, Matthieu Blazy unveiled a collection of Bottega Veneta fragrances in Murano glass bottles. Last week (12 December 2024) it was revealed that Blazy would be stepping down from Bottega Veneta and into the role of creative director at Chanel. The day before that, news broke that John Galliano would be exiting Maison Margiela.

If one is to believe fashion’s rumour mill, there are more major changes yet to come in the new year. But if the past 12 months have taught us anything, beauty is going to be a huge part of whatever these changes may be. Here, Wallpaper* takes a closer look at a selection of key fashion-meets-beauty moments, which set the tone for 2025 and beyond.

How 2024 brought beauty and fashion closer than ever before

Beauty on the runway, from Maison Margiela to Marc Jacobs

Even if you still haven’t seen the videos of Maison Margiela Artisanal S/S 2024, where John Galliano’s cast of models (including the likes of Gwendoline Christie) staggered beneath the arches of the Pont Alexandre III in Paris, dressed as dolls plucked straight from Émile Zola’s demi-monde, you’ll have seen the make-up. Or, perhaps the endless reproductions of it across Instagram and TikTok at least. After all, almost immediately after the Pat McGrath-created look appeared on the runway, the internet was ablaze with beauty creators trying to decode the secret formula to the waxen, porcelain skin.

The hubbub around the look reached such a fever pitch that McGrath eventually weighed in herself, sharing the lengthy list of products – including a dizzy combination of peeling masques layered and dried directly on the skin with a hairdryer – that it took to achieve. (Ever the savvy entrepreneur, though, Dame Pat also revealed that her empire-scale beauty business, Pat McGrath Labs, is in the process of developing an all-in-one product for fans eager to get the look).

If there’s another fashion figure who won big in the beauty stakes this year, it would have to be Marc Jacobs, who collaborated with McGrath on a limited edition ‘MatteTrance’ lipstick to mark the 40th anniversary of the American design’s namesake brand.

On the runway, however, it was the S/S 2024 40th anniversary Marc Jacobs show, held in March, which saw the likes of Alex Consani and Kaia Gerber transformed into living dolls (a key theme this year, it would seem).

Strutting out from beneath large-scale Robert Therrien sculptures, their clumped eye make-up by Diane Kendal was offset with hectic 1960s-esque bouffants from Duffy. The label’s second show of the year for A/W 2024, which took place in July, pushed the all-pervasive doll theme yet further, with models sporting cartoonish overblown pastel eyelid covers, sewn from fabrics and trimmed with spidery faux lashes.

Beauty-inspired collections, from Balmain to Abra

But runway beauty went the extra mile in 2024, with collections even taking direct inspiration from beauty products themselves.

At Balmain, Olivier Rousteing used the house’s S/S 2025 show, staged in September, as an opportunity to toast a new line of perfumes called ‘Les Éternels’ and tease yet-to-be-released Balmain Beauty products. Flacon-shaped clutches, trompe l’oeil lipstick heels and eyeshadow palette pochettes figured alongside dresses embroidered with depictions of scarlet tinted lips and lacquered nails. (In 2022, Balmain partnered with Estée Lauder to bring Balmain Beauty to life. William P. Lauder, grandson of Estée and chairman of executive chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies, watched the collection unfold from the front row).

Elsewhere, independent label Abra leaned into beauty-inspired design for its A/W 2024 show, presented over Paris Fashion Week in February. The brand was founded in 2019 by Abraham Ortūno Perez, who has worked with Jonathan Anderson on footwear for both JW Anderson and Loewe. In particular, Perez is responsible for the former’s giant chain mules and the latter's surrealist sandals for S/S 2022, which included heels in hyper-realistic broken eggs, bars of soap and bottles of nail polish.

For the Abra collection in question, make-up brushes were transformed into necklaces, while lipsticks and mini eyeshadow palettes became earrings and brooches. There was also an oversized white T-shirt dress, which appeared as though the model had wiped her hands on it after applying foundation.

Beauty launches, from Celine to Bottega Veneta

2024 was as much about what landed on shop floors as what we saw on the runways, with the year bringing a glut of beauty launches from brands and houses.

One of the most memorable is Celine’s first-ever make-up product, ‘Le Rouge Celine’, a classic satin-finish scarlet hue that comes in an exquisite gold case, developed under the direction of Hedi Slimane. The entire cosmetics line, Celine Beauté, is set to continue under his successor Michael Rider, with more products such as eyeliner, eye pencils and more coming next year.

Elsewhere, Victoria Beckham’s booming beauty empire expanded further, with a collaboration with Augustinus Bader on a concealer pen, which contains the science-led skincare brand’s patented TFC8 technology. Augustinus Bader, which was founded by its namesake biomedical scientist and CEO Charles Rosier, is no stranger to fashion partnerships, having previously teamed up with the likes of Haider Ackermann. (On another note, Ackermann joined Tom Ford in September 2024, drumming up intrigue around the direction the French-Colombian designer will take its revered fragrance and beauty line, which recently put out a lipstick campaign starring Angelina Jolie).

Victoria Beckham Beauty debuted ‘21:50 Rêverie’ – a scent inspired by a twilight dinner she and her husband David once had in the Javan rainforest – by perfuming the designer’s S/S 2025 show space with it. (This wasn't the only time that scent was seen on the runway this year, with Burberry perfuming its A/W 2024 show space with ‘Ivy’ by Perfumer H).

Acolytes of Matthieu Blazy’s Bottega Veneta were blessed with scented candles in volcano-glazed pots and five perfumes including ‘Come With Me’ and ‘Acqua Sale’, all inspired by Venice, the ultra-luxe label’s home city. Each was housed in glass bottles that echoed the texture of handblown Murano and perched on a miniature Verde Saint Denis marble plinth.

Beauty and fashion in 2025, from Dries Van Noten to Miu Miu

Keeping track of the developing relationship between the worlds of fashion and beauty in 2024 was truly a head-spinning task. This year also saw Dries van Noten take a final bow as creative director of his brand, after almost a decade at its helm. (On 9 December, it was revealed that Julian Klausner would succeed him).

However, Van Noten will continue to work on its beauty and fragrance division, stoking excitement around how its offering could develop. As the designer told Wallpaper* in the December 2024 issue: ‘My life changed quite a lot this year,’ he says. ‘It’s an exciting time. We had some storms, with big trees falling over, so there is more work to do in the garden and some thinking to be done.’

Perhaps the launch to look out for next year, though, is the arrival of Miu Miu beauty. Launching by way of a licencing agreement with L’Oréal, the new line expands the Prada Group’s beauty foothold, which was first established in 2023 with Prada Beauty, under the creative direction of Lyndsey Alexander.

It is also worth keeping an eye on Chanel. Although beauty and fragrance will not be under new creative director Matthieu Blazy’s direct purview, it will nonetheless be interesting to see how his creative vision informs and interacts with this vital and storied branch of the French house.

A unique trove of rare fashion and ephemera from seminal Belgian designer Martin Margiela and his eponymous house, Maison Martin Margiela, will go on sale next January in Paris – the majority of which has for years has lain dormant in the collection of Angela and Elena Picozzi, the daughters of Graziella Picozzi, for decades. Comprising over 270 pieces, the vast collection makes it the biggest-ever auction of Martin Margiela’s work.

Italian Graziella Picozzi, who worked alongside her husband Marco Picozzi, founded the brand Deni Cler in the 1970s, where a young Martin Margiela would consult before his stint at Jean Paul Gaultier and the later establishment of his eponymous maison. Striking up a friendship, Graziella would support Martin Margiela throughout his career, and collaborated on many of the garments which appear in the auction. The pieces that will go up for sale span 1988 to 1994, which the organisers have titled ‘The Early Years’ (Martin Margiela left his eponymous label in 2009; he would be succeeded by John Galliano in 2014, who last week exited the house after a decade).

‘Martin Margiela: The Early Years, 1988-94’ auction

The auction is organised by Angela and Elena Picozzi alongside legendary London auction house Kerry Taylor Auctions, which specialises in fashion, and Paris’ Maurice Auctions. Many of the pieces have never been worn; others are in their original packaging – a true rarity when it comes to such auctions of vintage fashion. Alongside the clothing is a curiosity shop of ephemera, including old pattern pieces, sketches, and research folders. The sisters say they hope the auction – which includes pieces from some of his most influential collections – will allow a wider audience to appreciate Martin Margiela’s work.

‘The meeting between our mother, Graziella, and Martin Margiela was a fundamental moment for both of them. We always considered these items an important part of fashion history that ought to be protected,’ they say. ‘Over time, we realised how important it is that Martin’s talent and vision be enhanced, studied, told, and, why not, worn. And that’s why we are selling today.’

Martin Margiela was a true fashion renegade, working in anonymity to create collections that redefined what clothing could be through deconstruction – the act of taking a garment apart and rebuilding it – or through the use of found objects. Alongside a stint as creative director for Hermès, he would prove incredibly influential, with his subversive approach much referenced, while numerous contemporary designers – including Matthieu Blazy and Demna – have passed through the Margiela studios.

Taking place on January 27 in Paris, the sale will be preceded by an exhibition of sorts, allowing the public to view these rare objects before they go on sale at 81 Boulevard Voltaire.

‘Martin Margiela: The Early Years, 1988-94’ auction will take place on January 27, 2025 at 81 Boulevard Voltaire, Paris 75011 and broadcast live on drouot.com and invaluable.com

The public can view the auction from 25 – 26 January 2025, at 81 Boulevard Voltaire.

Timex's T80 watch is timeless and minimalistic, celebrated for its compact LCD display, digital numerals, stainless-steel wristband, and essential functionalities—all evoking a sense of retro nostalgia and youth. It's fitting, then, that MM6 Maison Margiela, the avant-garde diffusion line of the Parisian fashion house known for bending sartorial conventions and redefining essentials, would re-engineer such an iconic design.

Recognised for its distinctive all-gender collections spanning ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and leather goods, MM6 brings its bold yet sophisticated aesthetic to this collaboration, infusing the T80 with a boundary-pushing, conceptual twist that challenges traditional accessory design.

This exclusive MM6 Maison Margiela x Timex collaboration unveils two innovative interpretations of the iconic piece: a gift set featuring a 2-in-1 wristwatch accompanied by an additional standalone stainless-steel bracelet, and the pioneering T80 ring watch—the first of its kind. Through these avant-garde variations, MM6 opens up a multitude of styling options, further strengthening their ongoing 'Ways to Wear It' exploration—a design ethos focusing on the uniqueness and spontaneity of the wearer.

The T80 gift set includes a re-edition of the classic watch with its original functionalities, enhanced by a mirrored mask featuring Margiela's renowned number sequence from 0 to 23 beneath the display, with the number '6' encircled to denote the MM6 creative studio. The stainless-steel wristband bracelet included in the gift set is designed to be worn with or without the watch, offering versatile styling options.

Challenging conventional notions of timekeeping accessories, the T80 ring watch transforms the iconic piece into a wearable ring. This avant-garde reinterpretation features a polished stainless-steel case and a fully brushed stainless-steel expansion band, artfully crafted to adorn the finger.

The MM6 Maison Margiela x Timex collaboration will be available from October 24 on both MM6 Maison Margiela and Timex sites, selected MM6 boutiques, as well as in selected multi-brand retailers.

The designer Stephanie D’heygere is known for dreaming up surreal yet wearable jewellery and accessories for her eponymous Paris-based brand. D’heygere’s A/W 2024 collection includes pieces like a metal pendant made to look like a Metro ticket, nylon tights tied into bow hair clips, baby pink earrings resembling used chewing gum, and studs with removable ribbons and dangling locks of black, brunette or auburn hair.

For D’heygere’s latest project, she applies this subversive sensibility to the design of a co-working office in Antwerp. The designer was invited by Silversquare – a chain of shared workspaces in Belgium – to oversee the interiors of its first opening in Antwerp. It marks a first for D’heygere too: having studied fashion design before pivoting to jewellery and accessories for brands like Maison Margiela and Dior, then establishing her own label, she has never worked in furniture or interiors. ‘It was always in the back of my mind and now I'm a bit more hungry for it – I really really enjoyed it,’ she explains over the phone from Paris. ‘With the accessories I design for my brand, I’ve always considered them more as objects than fashion ornaments, so it was not too difficult to make that step.’

Stephanie D’heygere’s ‘Officeland’ in Antwerp

Set over three floors, the space was entirely D’heygere’s to design. 'I really had carte blanche. I was a bit worried they would say it was too crazy, but they completely understood where I wanted to go.’ That turned out to be a place playfully dubbed ‘Officeland’, owing to D’heygere’s love of amusement parks and the workplaces of the 1980s and 90s where she found inspiration. ‘The name is a wink to Disneyland, and it’s partly inspired by the idea that every time you turn a corner, you’re in a space that feels different. I wanted it to be full of surprises, not at all boring.’ The result is an expansive space with nods to the corporate kitsch of decades past, but whose slick, unexpected features give it a timeless feel.

One noticeable signature throughout is office objects, supersized. The ‘coffee corner’ is fashioned to resemble a giant Bialetti percolator, with the top of the pot even continuing through the ceiling to be visible on the floor above. In the same kitchen area, small tables are shaped and textured like an enlarged sugar cube, with 'dark brown seats around, so it almost looks like you're in a huge coffee stain'. On the roof terrace, a hip-height cigarette acts as an ashtray and stands next to a telescope. Elsewhere there are ginormous desk lamps, tall enough to fill the airy room, with bases swapped out for comfy-looking sofas. ‘A lot of the inspiration for my brand comes from jewellery making itself, so I did the same for the office space, looking at classic office elements,’ D’heygere explains. ‘Then on my moodboard I also had lots of images of Claes Oldenburg works, and Californian pop architecture.’

While there are abundant amusements throughout the office – like the baguette lights hanging over red gingham-patterned furniture in the canteen – D’heygere was careful to strike the right balance of fun and functional. ‘I thought if we were having these crazy elements, the materials should be a little calmer, more classic – it's still an environment where you have to work and concentrate,’ she says. ‘There’s lots of metals, wood, some velvet, carpets. I cannot stand super colourful offices that almost look like children’s nurseries – this is playful, but not childish.’

D’heygere has a knack for taking everyday objects and fashioning them anew, subverting their function so they can be seen in a different light. It’s a clear thread running through her brand, and so too in this co-working space; her genius is that the resulting pieces are free of gimmicks, cool and covetable. This new venture has sparked something for the designer: ‘I feel like I’ve hit something new that I want to continue to expand,’ she says. ‘I’m always up for a new challenge – so let’s see what happens.’

dheygere.com

Scottish director Kevin Macdonald couldn’t have timed the release of his documentary, High & Low: John Galliano (Mubi), any better. Arriving in UK cinemas on 8 March 2024 (see the trailer below), the film dissects the rise, fall and redemption of legendary Gibraltor-born British designer John Galliano, chiming neatly with a second wind exemplified by his lauded S/S 2024 Maison Margiela Artisanal show in January, for the house where he is now creative director. ‘At the beginning, John said, “I don't want it to have a dark ending,”’ Macdonald recounts of the documentary project. ‘He said, “There has to be some light at the end of it because my life has come back.”’

To this point, the Maison Margiela Artisanal show – presented in Paris as part of Haute Couture Week – saw Galliano reignite fashion’s hunger for unbridled drama on the runway, presenting an exquisite blend of lived-in, distressed scrimps and Belle Époque silhouettes, with foot-on-the-back cinched corsets and frou frou tulle. Here, not only were the designs – some taking up to a year to fabricate – virally consumed and much reposted, but so too were the show’s extras: like Pat McGrath’s porcelain-like make-up; the wind-up-doll walks care of movement director Pat Boguslawski; or the antique chairs and the half-finished wine glasses strewn across time-worn tables. Together, this sum of parts reminded fashion’s older guard of the halcyon 1990s and noughts, when Galliano was the word on every editor's lips.

Of course, most know the story of Galliano’s fall from grace. These days, many have forgiven him – a bad drunk, now sober – for his racist outburst, and are ready to celebrate his early namesake collections, the 1984 ‘Les Incroyables’ Central Saint Martins graduate show, the heady days at Dior, and that brief but pivotal intermission at Givenchy. ‘Even my friends who have an aggressive disinterest in fashion came out and said, “That guy’s a genius”,’ says Macdonald.

This is Macdonald’s first fashion documentary, originally sparked by an interest in ‘cancel culture’. The end result, however, taught the director a thing or two about fashion’s cultural significance. ‘It just felt like his story was a great story in its own right,’ says Macdonald, who came to see Galliano as an artist, tapping into profound psychological reactions through the medium of clothes. The white muslin gowns of his eponymous S/S 1986 collection, intentionally sodden, were a case in point, reducing the front row to tears with a poetic, liquid femininity that runs throughout Galliano’s work – whether it’s a friction-taut bias-cut gown for Dior S/S 1993 or a sweat-slicked Gisele Bündchen campaign lensed by Nick Knight for Dior’s S/S 2003 accessories. Alongside Galliano, the film features conversations with Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Anna Wintour, Edward Enninful and more.

A fil rouge in the documentary is Galliano’s ‘Napoleonic ego’, a concept Macdonald ties to the designer’s meticulous obsession with the French Revolution. ‘If you look at the costumes and outfits throughout the film, he dresses up as Napoleon or in a Napoleonic fashion, and often in the background there’s Napoleon on a postcard,’ explains Macdonald. It’s a parallel bolstered by the romance of a south London-raised plumber’s son taking on Paris, where he’s not – at first – wanted, winning the city over before losing face.

If today’s runway shows are largely defined by commercial caution – as several critics have noted in recent seasons – their antithesis is found in the documentary’s archival footage of Galliano’s collections. This is especially true for the Lolita-infused Princess Lucretia S/S 1994 John Galliano collection, a character study-cum-couture show at his own label that many argue served as a portfolio for his appointment at Givenchy a year and a half later. After the Lucretia show – a time when Galliano’s brand was struggling financially – a fashion community stepped in, with the late André Leon Talley sourcing funds for the next show, and the supers, including Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista, walking gratuit.

Years later, Anna Wintour and Condé Nast supported Galliano’s return to fashion post-scandal, recognising his mercurial designs as not just beautiful, but necessary. In October 2014, he was appointed by Renzo Rosso as creative director of Maison Margiela. Fast-forward to now, and his aesthetic contributions continue at the Martin Margiela-founded brand, enhanced via VR, immersive choreography, and collaborations with longtime collaborators like Knight, as well as nods to fringe icons from Galliano’s first heyday, such as as the King’s Road punk, ‘Jordan’ (A/W 2023).

‘What was remarkable to me about the fashion world is how little they seemed to care for their past,’ says Macdonald. ‘Until very recently, even LVMH didn't keep archives of the dresses, sketches and shows.’ Lucky, then, that Galliano’s family, colleagues and friends kept the goods, showcased in their splendour once again in this transporting documentary, which captures the unique spirit of one of contemporary fashion’s most enduring designers.

’High & Low: John Galliano’ (Mubi) is in UK and Irish cinemas from 8 March 2024. Watch the trailer below.

mubi.com

Haute couture represents the very pinnacle of French style and savoir-faire. Such is its exclusivity, that only a handful of houses are granted membership by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode each year. Naturally, this makes for some of the most opulent runway spectacles of the season – dwarfing show sets, star-crammed front rows – but it also represents a chance to celebrate the poetry of fashion and dressmaking, with each hand-crafted garment often taking hours and hours of work to perfect.

This season has been typically transporting. At Chanel, it began with a lost button as Virginie Viard took us down a rabbit hole of confections inspired by the romance of dance, while at Dior Maria Grazia Chiuri presented a melange of richly crafted fabrics backdropped with a set by artist Isabella Ducrot. Meanwhile, at Alaïa, Pieter Mulier opened up the doors to his store for a tight-knit show – an expression of intimacy from the always-emotive designer. While John Galliano at Maison Margiela Artisanal provided a shuddering crescendo, his cast of corseted otherworldly creatures populated a dingy nightspot underneath Paris’ Pont Alexandre III.

Reported from Paris, the very best of Haute Couture Week S/S 2024, as it happened. 

The best of Haute Couture Week S/S 2024

Maison Margiela Artisanal

Leave it to John Galliano to end haute couture week on a shuddering crescendo, populating a subterranean nightspot underneath Paris’ Pont Alexandre III with an otherworldly parade of corseted creatures, who out of the darkness emerged like figures from a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painting or one of Brassaï’s leering photographs (the latter, the designer noted, had been on the season’s mood board). The contorted figures – faces with a queasy, doll-like pallor by make-up artist Pat McGrath – tottered and hobbled through the space in the cinematic spectacle, which the designer said recalled ‘a moonlit wander along the Seine’, recalling the ‘eerie, rainy ambience of Paris’ (the show took place under the first full moon of the year, as if to conjure the spirits of the past). ‘What lies beneath the imprint of their clothes?’ Galliano asked.

Indeed, the show’s looks hinged on a kind of revelation: the glimpses of those impossibly cinched corsets, the layers of tulle and lace which exposed the nude body beneath, or the held-together overcoats and knits which suggested the opposite (the attempt to conceal, a grasp for modesty). Strange, bulbous looks seemed almost torn apart, and others appeared as though pairs of tights had been pulled taught over their surface, split and laddered. This was a nod, no doubt, towards house founder Martin Margiela’s signature mode of deconstruction. He was also recalled in the dressmaker's stitches that ran across pinched waist tailoring, which looked much like it was in construction on a mannequin. It ended with a note of uncanny sweetness: a series of blousy striped blue and white gowns, which recalled Fragonard’s shepherdesses, albeit, in a warped manner, hands and arms contorted like broken dolls. A ringlet-haired Gwendoline Christie was the offering’s final act, her iridescent gown revealing the contoured line of the corset beneath its silky layers. 

You could not help but remember the designer’s seminal haute couture presentations for Dior in the collection’s unbridled spectacle. Post-show, several of the attendees – who noted their first experience of fashion was catching sight of those Dior runways on television or in the pages of a magazine – said that this was a moment which took them back to the very beginning; it was Galliano’s invitation to fall in love with the fantasy of fashion all over again.

Fendi

To be a contemporary couturier means finding a constant balance between past and future: how do you utilise the historical medium to create something new? At Fendi, British designer Kim Jones looked towards his forebear – and perhaps the 21st-century’s most well-known couturier – Karl Lagerfeld for inspiration. ‘I was thinking about Karl Lagerfeld’s futurism with Fendi,’ said Jones, continuing an undercurrent of sci-fi which has pulsated through the week (beginning with Schiaparelli’s technology-adorned looks and viral ‘robo baby’). 

Here, this mood was more subdued, emerging in molten fabrications and metallic adornments across the languid, sinuous silhouettes which are becoming a hallmark of his tenure at the Italian house so far. ‘There is a humanism at the heart of this future; there’s the body, the silhouette within the silhouette, the person and the handwork of the couture,’ he elaborated. ‘The collection is about structure and decoration, where the two become indivisible. I wanted an idea of precision and emotion at once.’

Indeed, there was a clarity to the looks, which balanced architectural rigour – nipped waist tailored jackets and gilets; fitted croco leather dresses and elongated overcoats – with the flou of floating silk gazar column gowns and serpentine twisted knit dresses and bra tops. A mass of embellishment, meanwhile, showed off the incredible handwork of Fendi’s atelier – the final series of looks, adorned with thousands of beads, sequins and iridescent paillettes, conjured explosions of silver fireworks.

Valentino

Pierpaolo Piccioli titled his latest haute couture collection for Valentino ‘Le Salon’ – an ode, the designer said, to the vaunted salons of Paris’ maisons de couture, ‘the habitat of haute couture - a space of expectation and wonder.’ As such, he chose Valentino’s own haute couture salon to show the collection, a series of gilded rooms in the house’s headquarters on Place Vendôme. It spoke of Piccioli’s desire the return to the ‘timeless essence of haute couture’, its spiritual home, a space of both craft and imagination.

But if this marked a return to tradition – historically, couture collections were shown to clients in such salon spaces – Piccioli nonetheless imbued his haute couture creations with a sense of modernity and ease. Silhouettes were largely languid and unrestricted, while a series of tailored jackets and overcoats, worn with gently flared trousers and plunging vest tops, suggested riffs on everyday style (albeit in luxurious manner). Elsewhere, flourishes of decoration were an ode to craft: whether bouncing plumes of feathers, metallic petals which bloomed across sweeping opera coats, or a series of garments made to evoke exotic skins and furs (the ‘fur’ was actually ‘rouleax’ of silk organza, or hand-cut sequins which evoked the scales of an alligator).

‘The salon here is not a stage, but rather a cultural milieu, to valorise craft, to celebrate the act of creation,’ said Piccioli, via the collection notes. ‘It is a place to bear witness to beauty, therefore to experience humanity. It is the heart of haute couture.’

Giorgio Armani Privé

It was a typically opulent outing from Giorgio Armani, whose Privé collections – according to the equally opulent front row, clad in last season’s runway looks – attract a phalanx of international clients devoted to the designer’s pursuit of beauty. He achieves it not just through the languorous line which also runs through his Emporio and Giorgio ready-to-wear collections, but in the extraordinary flights of embellishment and embroidery, alongside rich jacquards, lace, and the iridescent fabrics which here wrapped the body and glimmered in the light. Indeed, by way of inspiration points, Mr Armani simply said that this was him ‘indulging in unexpected bursts of creativity’, which set the collection’s freewheeling mood (dresses that erupted into fronds of tulle, enormous plissé hats). Like last season, the designer also noted an ‘imagined journey from west to east’, here emerging in richly embroidered kimono-like robes.

Alaïa

Every garment in Pieter Mulier’s latest collection was constructed from a singular piece of yarn – an extraordinary feat of engineering which pays ode to house founder Azzedine Alaïa’s own architectural approach to dressmaking. Mulier noted that this yarn – a merino wool developed over a year alongside the knitwear and textile suppliers who work with the house – signalled a mood of reduction, of stripping back fashion to its essence. This did not mean simplicity, as the fluttering mille-feuille of layers, looping, sculptural gowns, and pom-pom-like fronds which emerged from sleeves and hems, were anything but.

Rather, Mulier said he was thinking about ‘less meaning more – about intimacy, about reducing to an essence, about finding a freedom and invention in that. It is a decision, a choice, not to minimise but to focus, to expand possibilities.’ Indeed, the endlessly looping twists of yarn represented the feeling of intimacy at the heart of Alaïa, of ‘circles of friends, of chosen family, an idea essential to the essence of Alaïa. It was there with Azzedine always, like a heartbeat, and it remains,’ continued Mulier. The mood was reflected in the show itself, which was held in the Alaïa store on Rue de Marignan to just a handful of attendees, who balanced on Mollo sofas by Philippe Malouin to watch the show.

Chanel

A somewhat surreal opening video saw the actress Margaret Qualley losing a button from her Chanel jacket, before being aided by Naomi Campbell to find its replacement (cue the appearance of enormous spools of thread and gleaming scissors in the short, which was directed by Dave Free and scored by Kendrick Lamar). As if by magic – just after an enormous recreation of the signature Chanel button had descended from the ceiling of the Grand Palais Ephémère – Qualley had leapt out of the screen and onto the runway, sporting the collection’s opening look.

It heralded the start of a refreshing, romantic collection from Virginie Viard, who looked to the button as a symbol – the 'jewels’ with which Gabrielle Chanel had adorned her original jackets, and treated always with the ‘utmost respect’.  ’Chanel brings out emotions in me that I use for inspiration, collection after collection... my mission is to find new ways to tell its most beautiful stories,’ elaborated Viard, who used it as a jumping off point to explore the ’physical poetry’ of ballet and dance.

As such, the collection – which arrived in a sugared-almond palette of white and pale pink – was filled with flourishes that suggested both romance and movement, whether the fronds of tulle that emerged from the sleeve of a jacket or as a kind of pannier at the hip, or the layered body suits (on which extraordinary embellished bustiers sat) and white tights, which suggested the liberation of the dancer’s rehearsal room. ‘I often think about dance, it’s an important theme at Chanel,’ explained Viard. ‘The House is close to its institutions, to its choreographers and dancers, and we create costumes for the ballet. I have tried to bring together the power and finesse of bodies and clothes in a very ethereal collection, composed of tulle, ruffles, pleats and lace.’

Dior

Maria Grazia Chiuri largely eschewed strictly defined themes for an exploration of what the Italian designer called ‘aura’. It speaks to the mood she has conjured during her tenure at the house so far, where despite recalling moments from history – or indeed the house archive – she defined a distinct expression of contemporary femininity.

Here, the show was backdropped by a work by artist Isabella Ducrot titled Big Aura, a series of large-scale clothing silhouettes that in their construction recalled the warp and weft of cloth. Indeed, it was fabric – the medium of the couturier – which took centre stage here, with rich moments of moiré, meeting the sheen of iridescent fabrics and the lush textures of velvet. Of moiré – a fabric for which Christian Dior, she noted, had a particular infatuation – she said it ’unfurls over winter like a wave.’

For the silhouettes, Chiuri looked towards La Cigale, a dress that first appeared in Christian Dior’s A/W 1952 collection (there, it was also in moiré). A definitive Dior silhouette – narrowed at the waist and cantilevered at the hip to shape the posture – the strict line was reinterpreted with new ease by the designer, across gowns that wrapped around the body and gently nipped at the waist, or a series of hourglass tailored jackets worn with free-flowing plissé skirts.

Schiaparelli

Daniel Roseberry’s collections from Parisian couture house Schiaparelli have come to herald the arrival of the week in the city. And, they always have a star-studded guest list befitting the occasion (this season, Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and Hunter Schafer all took their places front row). With Roseberry – who cut his teeth at Thom Browne, another designer fond of fantasy (and who made his haute couture debut in 2023) – you never quite know what to expect (an internet-ubiquitous S/S 2023 collection saw enormous replicas of animal heads used as adornment).

This season was no exception, with Roseberry presenting a cosmic collection inspired by outer space and sci-fi tropes – all the way down to a ’robo baby’ constructed from what appeared to be mounds of gleaming discarded tech (it was carried down the runway by model Maggie Maurer, who noted it was lighter than her own baby). A gown adorned with old mobile phones and compact disks had a similar effect. ’As art – and nature – teaches us again and again, the things and ideas that seem diametrically opposed to each other can also combine to make startling chimeras, objects composed of familiar parts that, when united, create something unexpected and new,’ explained the designer.

Elsewhere, gowns were cut with a typically sculptural line, whether richly embroidered and reaching high above the head on one side, or complete with enormous fan-like breastplates crafted from patchworked black lace. ’[It is] a series of profiles both familiar and not – part human, part something else,’ Roseberry continues. ‘And, therefore, totally Schiaparelli.’

Toteme

Swedish fashion brand Toteme has been going from strength to strength in recent months, which culminated with the opening of a sleek new London outpost on Mount Street late last year (the latest in a slew of openings, which span New York, Shanghai, Seoul, and of course Stockholm). Choosing to show off-schedule at Haute Couture Week, founders Elin Kling and Karl Lindman invited an intimate gathering of press and associates to view the A/W 2024 collection on a stark white-backdropped runway, which recalled the 1990s runway shows that have no doubt been an inspiration to the pair’s stripped-back stylings.

Indeed, Kling (who is creative director) noted a honing-in on ’line, cut and shape’ in an astute collection that spanned gently tapered wool overcoats, featherweight knits which wrapped sensually around the neckline (a silhouette which reappeared later in sinuous dresses), and a beautifully cut slew of gowns that closed the show, either hovering gently off the shoulder or knotted and adorned with crochet flowers. ‘Designed for real-life situations, the collection comprises a highly curated edit that explores and consolidates the Toteme codes,’ the designer noted. ‘Ultimately, the collection comprises the perfect combination of styles for a refined look.’

As the year comes to a close, the Wallpaper* fashion and beauty team share their personal 2023 fashion highlights – from the blockbuster spectacle of Pharrell Williams’ debut at Louis Vuitton to cascading curtains of slime at Prada. These are style moments of 2023 that will stick with us.

2023 fashion highlights: as picked by the Wallpaper* team

Jason Hughes, fashion and style director

There was something about Matthieu Blazy’s latest Bottega Veneta show – S/S 2024,  – show that I felt like captured a particular mood, one of fantasy and imagination, the way that fashion allows the mind can travel. Set on a tiled map of the world which stretched across the space’s floor (complete with illustrations of penguins, sardines and crabs), Blazy imagined his protagonists on a journey around the globe – ‘an odyssey: a journey that is both free and hopeful... internal, physical and through the imagination,’ as he described. It made for a satisfying roll-call of travel archetypes – the beachgoer, the businessman, the castaway – each one rendered through his incredible expressions of craft. I loved it, and as ever there was plenty to desire: chief among them the vast woven beach bags which opened the show. 

I’ve been a fan of the American artist Lynda Benglis for some time, so it was exciting to see Jonathan Anderson collaborate with her at Loewe: first, her enormous fountains provided the show set for his S/S 2024 menswear show, then, for his later womenswear show he also collaborated with her studio on sculptural pieces of jewellery evocative of her works cast from manipulated pieces of clay (which also lined the runway). As ever, he used the inspiration point to create some of the year’s most intriguing collections, which largely focussed on an extraordinary now silhouette – super high-waisted trousers worn with shrunken shirts or knitwear – which he described as looking through a fish-eye lens or looking upwards at one of Benglis’ towering fountains.

Finally, nothing beats John Galliano’s Maison Margiela shows: held in the all-white showspace on the upper floor of house’s new Paris headquarters and complete with stomping models – and equally stomping soundtrack – it’s a true fashion rush.

Jack Moss, fashion features editor

2023 might well have been the year of spectacle, a mood encapsulated by Pharrell Williams’ menswear debut at Louis Vuitton – undeniably the most blockbuster runway show (or indeed fashion happening) I’ve ever attended. For a start, most do not require the boarding of a boat to get to the venue – guests were shuttled down the Seine before the show’s start – nor do they require the full-scale shutdown of a Parisian landmark (Pont Neuf, the city’s oldest bridge, here gilded gold for the occasion). And, while they do usually attract a handful of stars, Williams’ presence ensured an altogether stratospheric guest list – among them Beyoncé, Zendaya, Meghan Thee Stallion, Tyler the Creator, Kim Kardashian and (many, many) more. Post-show, Jay-Z staged a live performance; my own personal highlight was finishing the evening dancing feet away from a heavily pregnant Rihanna.

A different kind of spectacle at Prada – always a highlight of my fashion season – whereby dripping Alien-like cascading curtains of slime interrupted the otherwise sparse stainless-steel set in the house’s Deposito showspace at Fondazione Prada in Milan. At both the house’s menswear show (which happened first), and the womenswear show later in the year, the trick was enough to elicit audible gasps from the gathered audience. It provided the backdrop for two standout collections by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the menswear show an exploration of ‘fluid forms’ – tailoring was cut with the lightness and ease of a cotton poplin shirt – while the womenswear collection melded featherweight diaphanous gowns with ladylike silhouettes and extraordinary expressions of craft (from eyelet-studded tassels to intricate embroidery). ‘We tried to make the best out of our work, to make beautiful things, for today,’ said Mrs Prada in her typically succinct style. ‘That may sound banal, but it is the truth.’ 

Elsewhere, I enjoyed young British menswear designer Aaron Esh’s sleek, confident London Fashion Week debut which riffed on the dress codes of his own group of friends – set against the London skyline on an upper floor of the Tate Modern’s Blavatnik Building, he said it was an ode to the city in which he grew up, and later studied. My final highlight goes to Matthieu Blazy at Bottega Veneta. It goes without saying that his collections are extraordinary in their expressions of craft and design, but I want to particularly shout out his equally extraordinary – and always poignant – soundtracks. After his A/W 2023 show, I listened to Donna Lewis’ ‘I Love You, Always Forever’ on repeat.

Hannah Tindle, beauty and grooming editor

Mia Goth opened the Miu Miu A/W 2023 show in February this year, which was titled ‘Ways of Looking’ (a sideways glance at John Berger’s 1972 essay, perhaps). She was styled by Lotta Volkova in pieces befitting of Mrs Prada’s subversively sexy take on a bookish aesthetic. With a charcoal button-up twin set, strappy patent pumps, a leather box bag carried nonchalantly in the crook of her arm, and black, low denier tights – the gusset of which was pulled up above the waistline of a low-slung, sheer polka dot pencil skirt – Goth looked as though she had just rolled out of bed in a hurry, and in being late for a lecture at the Sorbonne, had left her sleeping lover behind. Guido Palau created intentionally unkempt hair, using the static electricity from balloons and a can of hairspray to sculpt strands into frazzled quiffs. Later in the lineup, tiny rounded tortoiseshell spectacles worn by the likes of Rianne Van Rompaey completed the fantasy (and I have been thinking about it ever since).

Daniel Lee’s obsession with green seeped through from his tenure at Bottega Veneta into Burberry’s new direction for S/S 2024. However, for the sophomore collection at the British heritage label, Lee put a trademark stamp on a deeper variation of the shade; a hue that is in part reminiscent of a mallard head (duck motifs are also on the designer’s mood board) and one that also recalls the verdant foliage of British scenery. Held in a tented structure erected in London’s Highbury Fields, the show space was laid with moss-coloured carpet, which carried over into the clothes, make-up and even nails. Ammy Drammeh took care of the former, where glossy, lacquered lips appeared black at first glance; upon a second, a tint of green was slightly perceptible. The same custom colour was applied to fingers and nails, by session manicurist Ama Quashie. Would I try and recreate this rather swampy makeup look on myself? Probably not. But I loved the strangeness of it nonetheless.

While Martin Margiela hung up his fashion gloves in 2008, his influence endures, both as a perennial reference on the runways and as an educational trove for budding students the world over. However, in the years since his departure – he has swapped the fashion studio for a career in art – his legacy as the designer’s designer has only been institutionally surveyed on a few occasions. It makes the newly opened fashion exhibition, Margiela: In the Void (until April 5, 2024), an important milestone for anyone with an interest in the history (and future) of fashion design.

The show comes from a partnership between Paris-based vintage retailer Byronesque and the Miami-based Parodi Costume Collection, home to an extensive archive of Maison Martin Margiela, Comme Des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto and Cristóbal Balenciaga, among others. Together, the two organisations settled on the concept of ‘void’ as a way to explore the absence, anti-stardom and deconstructive approach that has defined Margiela’s oeuvre. Showcasing an array of looks from 1994 to 2005 – some of which are indeed missing certain items – the show revels in its incompleteness, treating Margiela as a springboard for critical thinking and creative response from a selection of enlisted artists.

Margiela: In The Void at Parodi Costume Collection

Not only is it the first Miami-based display of Margiela’s collections, but unlike previous shows – Palais Galliera’s Margiela Galliera (2018) or the 20th anniversary retrospective at MoMu (2022) – it’s also the first time that anyone has directly explored this concept of the void in his work. ‘The selection of items is very focused on icons,’ says Gill Linton, CEO of Byronesque. ‘And by that we don’t mean the obvious “Instagram icons”. The show presents items as icons because of the conceptual thought process, not simply based on fashion design.’

The designs on show, sourced by Byronesque and Parodi through former collectors, dealers and auctions stateside and on the continent, are tellingly cerebral. Take, for example, the legendary mannequin jackets from Margiela’s A/W 1997 collection, made from the oatmeal Stockman models used in traditional haute couture houses. Playfully Dadaist and truly less is more, it’s adjoined by a 3D sculptural recreation from design studio No More Mondays – a troupe renowned for their collaborations with Loewe and Bottega Veneta. ‘No More Mondays made the meta nature of the semi-couture design even more meta,’ affirms Linton.

Elsewhere, the concept of void is applied to Margiela’s complete eschewal of celebrity and glamour. This applied to himself, as seen in his infamous refusal to do interviews, and also the themes he explored in his collections. Anonymity, in particular, was one of the Belgian designer’s favoured tropes, embodied by his incognito visor sunglasses of S/S 2008 and the balaclavas that often obscured models’ faces. 

In fact, this rebellious approach also applied to his eccentric, magpie sensibilities that were at odds with the polish and poise of nineties and noughties fashion. Across his collections, he would use deadstock materials, be it 70s vintage, which he collected obsessively, or the quotidian clothing worn by those outside the industry, wrought with exposed stitches, sized up or left half finished. The upcycled S/S 1994 prom dress teamed with the antique solar ring pendant from S/S 1991 and the A/W 1992 unhemmed dress – dragged then by the New York Times as ‘Salvation Army’ fare – are exemplary of his anti-fashion. ‘I particularly appreciate how the void here is also Martin’s disregard for bad press and ability to take it head on,’ says Linton. ‘Oh, how the critics got it wrong.’

Surveying the show, it’s easy to see just how ahead of his time Martin Margiela was. Displayed with an artistic and academic bent – old garments piled in an installation, designs wrapped in dry cleaning bags and consistent curatorial restraint – the clothes become more than the sum of their parts, highlighting Margiela’s tendencies towards surrealism, Arte Povera and the Duchampian ready-made. ‘His work is loaded with value theory,’ says Gonzalo Parodi, who works on the collection. ‘We therefore like to read his propositions not unlike those of philosophers like Ludwig Wittgenstein or Jacques Derrida.’ Lofty talk, this is not. After all, Margiela is, first and foremost, a deeply conceptual figure whose medium just so happened to be fashion. Despite his absence, or void, if you will, his work still has so much to give. 

Margiela: In The Void at Parodi Costume Collection, created with Byronesque, is on show now until April 5, 2024. 

parodicostumecollection.combyronesque.com

Recent years have seen the Salomon sneaker – originally designed by the French outdoor brand for trail running and hiking expeditions – become perhaps fashion’s most ubiquitous footwear, its appeal emerging from a futuristic, utilitarian design with an underlying weirdness (the Salomon was often named as part of the ‘ugly sneaker’ trend of the mid-2010s). Cementing its appeal, a slew of collaborations have followed – among them Comme des Garçons, Palace and American designer Sandy Liang. 

Mutual appreciation: MM6 Maison Margiela x Salomon A/W 2023

MM6 Maison Margiela first collaborated with Salomon as part of its A/W 2022 show, seeing versions of the latter’s ‘Cross’ and ‘Low’ models reimagined with a rip-stop overlay that fastens with a drawstring around the ankle (to prove its appeal, Rihanna chose the style for her appearance at the Superbowl in February 2023). ‘Building on mutual appreciation for transitional design, Salomon’s most iconic pieces have been reimagined through MM6 Maison Margiela’s distinct lens,’ said MM6 at the time. 

S/S 2023 built on the collaboration further, with the introduction of the ‘Adv Skin 5’ running vest and a thigh-high pair of Salomon’s signature sneakers, though A/W 2023 – arriving in drops this September, October and November – is the collaboration’s widest offering yet, spanning sneakers, vests, boots, backpacks and socks. First to arrive in September is perhaps the collection’s boldest offering, the ‘Crosswader’ sneaker, which sees Salmon’s signature utility soles melded with skin-tight knee-high socks for an unconventional take on a boot that feels typically Margiela. Also arriving this month is the ‘Adv Skin 15’, a fitted technical vest with toggle fastening.

Other drops will include the utilitarian black ‘XT-15’ backpack, which fastens across the chest with two zip pockets on the straps, the ‘Cross Mid’ sneakers with ripstop overlay that evoke those in the original A/W 2022 collection, and the slick grey ‘Ultra Socks’, among others. True to both brand’s distinct aesthetics, each style is an amalgam of Salomon’s performance-focused approach – long beloved by intrepid outdoor adventurers around the world – with the subversive, off-kilter approach which has defined MM6 Maison Margiela since its founding in 1997.

maisonmargiela.com
salomon.com

In a chicly sparse Chelsea gallery space in September 2022, a new label quietly arrived on the scene at New York Fashion Week with an artful installation of mannequins dressed in all-black ensembles. Seemingly simple at first glance, the guests – who had no doubt been tantalised by the credentials of Fforme’s creative director, Paul Helbers – knew these clothes warranted closer inspection. Examined up close, a double-ply cashmere jacket had been expertly steamed and manipulated into its architectural shape, sewn with only a single seam. 

Paris-based Dutch designer Helbers, formerly the menswear director at several luxury houses including Louis Vuitton, Maison Margiela, and The Row, was appointed for his first foray into womenswear by Fforme’s founders Laura Vazquez (a former executive vice president of Jil Sander Navy and Perry Ellis and head merchandiser at several large brands) and Nina Khosla (a designer with a degree in engineering design from Stanford). 

His take on European refinement blended with American ease is proving a recipe for success: take, for example, Fforme’s ‘Maya’ bias-cut T-shirt, a riff on the sportswear classic reimagined in luxurious heavyweight fabrics by a master cutter’s hand. These are clothes that will appeal to a woman who prefers an unfussy but considered way of dressing – an approach that chimes with a mindset shift towards ‘less-is-more’ purchasing behaviour. 

‘Working with an intentionally small collection that uses only five or six key fabrics takes intelligence and research,’ says Helbers, speaking on Zoom from Paris. ‘We had to construct this way of working, even with our factories, as there is so much development in relation to production. In a way, that’s where the double F in Fforme comes from: foundational and fundamental.’

Ahead of unveiling Edition 3 on 10 February at New York Fashion Week A/W 2023 – which Helbers promises will bring ‘some jacquards, more texture’ – he shares his ethos on Fforme and making clothes for today, in his own words.

On Fforme’s couture-level craft...

Paul Helbers: What’s special about the way we work is that we have returned to quite an old-school process. There’s a lot of shape study: it's not so much about sketching, but much more about developing the shapes in 3D, like with couture. 

Normally, I start with a rough visual outline; you could call it a mood board but it’s not as precise, just references. And then I cut those ideas with scissors directly into the fabric. I work directly on the mannequin, and then I try to make them more perfect. It’s a very intuitive process.

Next, the pieces are given to a couture-level workshop in Paris which translates these initial ideas into more easy-to-read patterns. Then, another toile is made in cotton calico, before being sent to one of three high-level family-owned factories in Italy for prototyping, and finally, production.

On keeping things small, selective and intentional...

PH: The choice to make [collections] really small is on purpose. We create a very small proposal: it’s not about having every single option, but you can dress [with the collection] in a very complete way. It is very modular. Everything can be layered with everything. Hopefully, women can express their personality by taking that further or keeping it very minimal.

There’s a lot of research behind this. I’m sort of a nerd. These shapes have been so studied and hold up on their own: we are creating a library bank of styles that are really the skeletons of the collection. We can always choose to bring them back in another fabrication: in thin silk, in thick cashmere, or in padded quilting. 

There is no logo. The clothes are discreet but powerful. It works on a simple level: you put it on, you look beautiful, and then I hope it gives you confidence that makes you glow. That’s the beauty of wearing our clothes, something comes from the inside. A lot comes from seeing the clothes move: deciding what the lengths and proportions should be to make the pieces work for different kinds of body types.

On mindful manufacturing...

PH: We don’t put a big stress on the factories because they have already existing patterns and we can easily make small manufacturing modifications. The choice of fabrics is really important and it dictates what the clothes can do. We choose our materials very specifically. For example, our double-face is merino wool with a very fine yarn count, which means it's almost as fine as cashmere but it’s stronger and lasts longer – with wind and rain it gets a little denser, whereas cashmere loses hair over time. We really make pieces that can last.

Let’s be fair, nobody needs a new fashion label, so you have to find some sort of social relevance to do it and not to be over-producing and over-exhausting. I think if we all specialise in something, there is room for everyone.

On colour...

PH: We always use neutrals, like off-whites, beiges and blacks. If we do colour, it’s towards the warmer colours, like red browns, or an orchid lilac which we see as a replacement for navy – you could wear this head to toe. We plan our colours and silhouettes to work together from one season to another. It's not about the trend of a season. It all works in harmony: silhouettes, texture and colour.

On buying clothes like you would furniture...

PH: If you look at women artists and sculptors – and there are so many examples – they stand a little bit outside the pace of fashion and trends: they really need to be functional because they are working with their hands. They find solutions to what works for them and what they love to wear, which has always been a little bit outside of fashion. These women in society are still inspiring other women, sort of like role models.

For a certain woman, this approach has always been relevant, it’s just the way she likes to dress. But now I think it’s also become a social responsibility, and I think that makes the group of women bigger. Since the pandemic, our whole attitude towards clothes has become much more intimate. The way you choose a garment is much more similar to how you buy furniture. It’s part of your direct environment and you cherish it. It makes you feel good.

Fforme Edition 2 is available online now.

fforme.com

While the dishevelled grandeur of a former convent in Paris’ 11th arrondissement once served as the headquarters of Maison Margiela – its walls and surfaces famously white-washed by eponymous founder Martin Margiela – 22 January 2023 marked the inauguration of a brand new home as the house threw open the doors to its gleaming new atelier in the rarefied 16th district, hosting a co-ed runway show in a celebration of its success under current creative director John Galliano. 

Located on Place des États-Unis – close to the Arc de Triomphe – the headquarters had been transformed into an immersive exhibition for the evening, for the select group of attendees. Led by trails of footprints that snaked through the offices, their shape recalling the maison’s split-toed ‘Tabi’ boots, guests were walked through the atelier where a vintage car had been erected from the ceiling as if plummeting from on high (its passengers, clad in tulle ruffles, were frozen mid-flight). The duo were meant to evoke Count and Hen, the fugitive star-crossed lovers of Galliano’s theatrical Southern Gothic-inspired Artisanal show last June, a film of which played on a loop in a mirrored 'Cinema Inferno' room next door. 

‘Young rebels with a conscience’: Maison Margiela A/W 2023

This milieu was a clue to the inspiration for the A/W 2023 season, which marked Maison Margiela’s ready-to-wear return to the runway since prior to the pandemic (it last showed in February 2020). ‘The co-ed presentation carries on where the story left off,’ said the collection notes, elucidating that Galliano had begun the collection by imagining the fictional love child of Count and Hen: ‘a fusion of elements, the splicing of genetics, ideas and characteristics into a new expression... the offspring of Count’s aristocratic influence and the false pretensions of Hen’s upbringing, it is a cross-pollination embodied by the contemporary spirit of young rebels with a conscience.’

After climbing to the fifth floor by elevator, the show itself took place on a sharply lit runway with mirrored walls, in part reminiscent of the optic-white hallways of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. ‘This is the future,’ declared a disembodied voice over the pounding soundtrack as Galliano’s spliced replicants lurched down the runway in a typically vivid amalgam of garments and reference points, often seeing clothes stripped down to reveal their construction – a process the house calls ‘decortiqué’ – in a nod to forebear Martin Margiela’s deconstructionist approach. ’Dressing in haste’, was one of the collection’s descriptors, here imagined in sliced-away bias-cut dresses and skirts that twisted around the body, shirts that appeared to have been thrown on backwards, or layers of garments tucked into fishnet stockings. Pieces of paper, reminiscent of punk flyers, were tucked into the back of clothing, while Mickey Mouse motifs appeared throughout.

As is typical of Galliano’s work, a defiant glamour wove these idiosyncratic elements together, with looks wrapped in layers of tulle or ripples of velvet or sequins; on the feet, riffs on the ‘Tabi’ came in vertiginous pointed patent heels or shimmering crystal Derby shoes (some in ruby slipper red). A series of grand opera coats, with various floral motifs and bows, were a nod to the designer’s ongoing fascination with haute couture, and a celebration of the house atelier. 

The evening ended with another climb to the highest point of the headquarters, a wraparound terrace with a 360-degree view of Paris beyond. On a vast billboard, a film by Nick Knight created for the relaunch of Maison Margiela’s e-commerce website played on a loop; in the distance, the Eiffel Tower provided a dramatic backdrop (as if on cue, it lit up with its sparkling light show). It was impossible not to be seduced by the moment – a triumphant housewarming as Maison Margiela enters its latest chapter.

maisonmargiela.com

Martin Margiela, the famously invisible fashion designer of the 1990s and 2000s, is now equally invisible as an artist – which is apt, since visibility (or the lack thereof) is one of his favourite themes.

After pioneering a brilliantly radical view of ‘anti-fashion’ at the head of his eponymous clothing brand, then abruptly leaving the industry in 2009, Margiela is re-emerging on the scene with his first solo show as a fully-fledged artist. It runs through the end of the year at Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette in Paris.  

For Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel, the foundation’s director and curator of the show, ‘He has always been an artist.’ In fact, at age 16, Margiela attended art school in his native Belgium, before opting to pursue fashion. His approach to fashion was avant-garde, his runway shows unconventional. He rejected the cult of the designer, eschewing all photo ops and interviews, preferring that attention be focused on the work – a choice he still holds to today.

This show is equally renegade, inviting visitors to enter through the emergency exit of the Rem Koolhaas-designed building, then to make their way through small spaces set up like a maze. At times, performers are on hand to unveil works as visitors walk by. Guillaume Houzé, president of Lafayette Anticipations, compares the whole experience to ‘walking through Margiela’s brain’. 

Three years in the making, the exhibition comprises more than 20 works, spanning painting, sculpture, installation, collage and film. Margiela acolytes will recognise many of his obsessions – anonymity, vulnerability, transformation, body parts, hair.

According to Lamarche-Vadel, ‘the concept around all of this, that has been haunting Margiela for so long, is the question of how to give new attention and a new dignity to what we have marginalised, or what we are not able to recognise as worthy’. Indeed, the first thing visitors come across is a giant image of a deodorant stick covering one courtyard wall, an everyday object that industrialises the body, attempting to make it more desirable with an artificial scent.

Here and there among the artworks, there are blank, ochre-coloured squares on the walls. These reference works that supposedly exist, but are absent. Each has its own enigmatic label (and the imagination can’t help but be sparked by one that reads ‘Sans Titre, 2011 – washed-up beach sandals transformed into phallus.’)

As for the works we can actually see, Margiela took full advantage of the foundation’s production facilities, pushing its team’s technical know-how to the limit. Lamarche-Vadel says that for the past couple of years he spent several days on site every month, working with the production team on R&D, trying and failing until they achieved his very precise vision. For a work called Lip Sync, based on videos of lip reading for the deaf, he wanted to tattoo images of mouths onto skin-coloured silicone. This meant finding exactly the right density of silicone. And then, says Lamarche-Vadel, ‘It was an absolute nightmare to tattoo – the colour, the techniques, the small needles…’

For a series of paintings called Film Dust, Margiela focuses our attention on the tiny bits of dust that cling to Super-8 film, and that we normally overlook. He asked the production team to develop a surface with the grainy texture and luminosity of a movie screen. After months of experimentation, they came up with minuscule beads of glass melted on top of the canvas. Diluting oil paint like watercolour, Margiela painted enlarged specks of dust over the top. 

Time – and our pathetic attempts to control it – is another important theme. His Bus Stop reinterprets a humble piece of street furniture where people spend a period of time they generally consider wasted. Fake fur transforms Margiela’s bus shelter from something cold and metallic into a warm, welcoming animal, while a glass vitrine gives it a precious quality.

Margiela’s father was a hairdresser, and hair has always been a recurring motif in his work. He told Lamarche-Vadel that when visiting museums, he takes careful note of how the Masters painted. In this show, he covers faces with hair, plays with the repulsiveness of body hair, and explores how its colour represents the passage of time (and the ways that people try to master this transformation). 

A work called Vanitas, named for a genre of 17th-century Dutch painting that evoked mortality and the futility of vanity, portrays a woman at different stages of her life. Five heads, perfect little spheres, are covered in real hair, the colour changing from blonde to a cheap-looking fake brown to grey. Margiela told Lamarche-Vadel he loves the last one the most, when the subject finally accepts the traces of age.

Fortunately, this is an artist who also believes in rebirth, having long worked with repurposed materials. This exhibition, Margiela’s own renaissance of sorts, certainly won’t be his last. ‘He’s incredibly productive,’ says Lamarche-Vadel. ‘He has thousands of ideas, and could do another five shows like this tomorrow.’

INFORMATION

 Martin Margiela’s show is on view at Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris until 2 January 2022, lafayetteanticipations.com

All of the artworks are for sale via the Zeno X Gallery (Antwerp), which is also showing some of Margiela’s works at FIAC, zeno-x.com

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After months of shuffling about in our slouchiest separates, lazing in loungewear and tootling in track pants, we’re eyeing up ensembles with a little more oomph. Feathered eveningwear was a focus on the S/S 2021 catwalks, as labels shirked the dressed down sartorial slump of 2020 in favour of optimistic and more attention-seeking style. Bring on the sequins and shimmer.

Embrace attention-seeking style in a feathered dress

Brands including Saint Laurent, Roksanda, Numberoventuro and Salvatore Ferragamo, also adorned evening looks with delicate plumes, whether they swathed skirts and slip dresses or frothed from a skinny sleeve. This fine feathered evening wear recalled the froufrou of a Twenties flapper girl and the sweep of a 1960s starlet.

Numberoventuro's Alessandro Dell'Acqua created Jazz Age-style embellishments by pairing plumed skirts with pared-back chunky knitwear and men's shirts, while Saint Laurent's Anthony Vaccarrello found particular inspiration in the latter era, drawing on archival pieces which felt both easy and extravagant. 

Spring’s plumed looks bring a lighter-than-air uplift to dressing, but they also provide required comfort too. Pristine white pieces evoke the solace of freshly laundered layers, while feathers swathe the body and recall the soft, enfolding fabrics we relied on during lockdown. Roman label Fendi even paired a plumed pencil skirt with a padded coat that resembled an enveloping duvet, for the ultimate in down and out-out dressing. Pack a punch with these protective dressing options, for when we can finally flock together.

The pandemic may have put paid to physical fashion shows, but July saw an outpouring of creativity and ingenuity as designers and brands turned to other channels to present their S/S21 menswear and haute couture collections. The challenge to create designs and gure out new methods of showcasing them also occurred during lockdown, with teams collaborating remotely via Zoom and on socially distanced shoots. The big democratising upside of digital fashion weeks that started with Shanghai in March is that everyone worldwide has a front-row view. This week also sees the launch of RUNWAY360, a new digital platform launched by the CFDA to showcase New York Fashion Week S/S 2021 which will debut collections using a host of different formats, beginning with Jason Wu and concluding with Tom Ford.

Out of this year's chaos and seemingly impossible circumstances, fashion has been shot into digital space and it is proving a fascinating journey. The shows did go on, with designs featured on avatars (Ralph
& Russo, August Getty Atelier), in 3D animations (Botter, Louis Vuitton) and in delightful mini films that blend real and fantasy worlds. Iris van Herpen cast Game
of Thrones’ Carice van Houten in her Escher- in infuenced multifaceted film, with hyper-real close-ups of fabric and embellishments.
At Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri enlisted film director Matteo Garrone (Dogman, Pinocchio) who created a schmaltzy fairytale short,
 Le Mythe, that saw nymphs frolic in CGI bucolic landscapes and encounter the collection in the form of miniature gowns that arrived in a portable ‘maison’ carried by bellboys. The piece was bookended with real footage from the couture atelier, featuring the petites mains making couture gowns
at 40 per cent scale, echoing the miniature mannequins that Christian Dior created to promote collections in 1944.

Meanwhile at Maison Margiela, John Galliano and Nick Knight collaborated on
 a thrilling film spun out through teaser
clips on Instagram to promote the Artisanal collection. It features models swaggering and posing in painterly chromatic compositions, like otherworldly spectres in dramatic silhouettes. You could call it hallucinogenic haute couture. Knight also worked on a film to accompany Valentino’s collection, debuted at a live show at Cinecittà Studios in Rome. 

Some presentations were punkish and DIY – Boramy Viguier’s spinning lookbook images overlaid on a Dadaist collage background – and others, airy and lyrical. Issey Miyake’s choreographed ‘show’, entitled Meet Your New Self, blended free-form dance sequences with fantasy ights across cityscapes and animations of blooming fabric houseplants made of the brand’s signature Pleats fabric. The lm was directed by Yusuke Kobayashi, with digital e ects by Whiteboard Ltd. 

While fashion creatives are acutely aware of what they are missing – the emotional and storytelling impact of IRL fashion shows – and editors and buyers yearn for the group experience and the tactile examination of collections, eyes have had to be opened to new alternatives. Just as football teams adjust to the reality of empty stadiums, fashion is adjusting to displaced realities. 

‘The pandemic in all its awfulness has allowed people to step off the treadmill and address how they want to express themselves creatively. The question of showing a collection through any means except for
a catwalk has stimulated invention,’ says Knight, who set up Showstudio as a hub for fashion filmmaking some 20 years ago. ‘The medium of the catwalk show really came into being in the 1940s. The fashion business is
 a different beast today, yet the show system has not changed and there’s a big disconnect. ‘I have been working with models on Zoom shoots,’ he says. ‘The make-up artist might be in LA, the stylist in Jamaica and I “direct” the web camera, working with the available light in the room. It’s thrilling and just as creatively demanding as working on set. I am a rm believer in using everything that comes to hand, whether that’s an iPhone or a thermal camera or a security camera or a 3D scan, or an X-ray – these are all tools like charcoal or oil or a pencil. Art has come out of the gallery and lm out of the physical “set”.’ It is strange, he adds that while fashion is a cutting-edge art form, the show system ‘has been so wedded to the past’.

During lockdown, Knight masterminded a CGI avatar of Kendall Jenner for Riccardo Tisci at Burberry. It started with Jenner photographing herself at home, with Knight creating a digital Jenner body using a model in a motion-capture suit, and was set against a minimalist architectural background in CGI resembling an empty pool. Burberry will be staging a live show in September outdoors but with no spectators. 

As brands turn to animation, CGI and VFX, there are learning curves on both sides. Creative digital studios might be whizzes at building immersive AR worlds for gaming, but rendering the lustre, embroidery, and detail of an £80,000 haute couture gown, and translating the ‘dream’ of fashion into movement and setting demands new skill sets, processes, deep pockets and patience. ‘There are a lot of similarities between a digital atelier and a couture one. We replicate seams and cuts so the clothes move in tune with the body, as the materials would IRL,’ says Leanne Elliott Young, co-founder of the London-based agency, Institute of Digital Fashion. ‘Yet brands often have no idea of the application involved, the timelines or the processes. The current crisis has acted as an accelerator.

Tuning into a digital experience would have been a massive ask for consumers, buyers and press; now we have found our audience much more open,’ says Young, who with co-founder and digital artist Cattytay is working on a series called Tinnitus for LA- based August Getty. The designer, an activist within the LGBTQ community, describes it as ‘a modern biopic, a bold alternative to the tired narratives of couture, a series not a show, a new world not our old one.’ The project will be introduced through social media, web and press as a series over six months. Says Young, ‘Strategically we built in a level of intrigue and a narrative with crescendos and characters. The characters and landscapes are beyond our realities, very fitting for a brand that is thinking beyond seasons. The viewing is no longer con ned to old hierarchies of front row or backstage, or the limitations of live streaming. This is a democratised viewing portal.’

Digital showcases can also be nostalgic. Lisi Herrebrugh and Rushemy Botter, co-founders of the Botter menswear label, commissioned animation studio Trappist Monk to create a game featuring their character, Aqua Novio. ‘My first experience of virtual worlds was through Nintendo. We wanted to recapture some of the excitement of choosing your player and the outfit,’ says Botter of their amicable cartoon figure, who tries on out oufits with the click of a cursor. ‘The most important thing about fashion is to express emotions and put out something new, but you can’t compare these digital pieces to a catwalk show, which is when you invite people into your world with music and real emotions. It is a complement,’ says Herrebrugh, who also presented a short  lm shot in the atelier with two models.

At Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh likewise embraced a sense of playfulness. His cartoon The Adventures of Zoooom with Friends saw stowaway characters bursting out of shipping containers and gamboling through the sites of Paris in Abloh’s sunny clothes. The ten- minute work married FX animation by Re ieknow, of Fashion Figure Inc, with 3D modelling, texturing and scenic visuals. To note: the credit list, spanning studios, styling, casting and visual effects, was longer than the IRL fashion show equivalent. Such animations are not a budget option. It takes two days just to render a couture look on an avatar, and a suite of software tools. ‘We analyse the fabric weight and drape against the  esh and calculate this exact detailing when simulating the collision between garment and digital human,’ says Cattytay of digitisation’s painstaking process.

For its avatar-driven couture presentation, Ralph & Russo worked with Seoul-based digital design studio VSLB. Tamara Ralph’s idea was for a cyber model called Hauli (meaning strength and power in Swahili) to pose in front of the Seven Wonders of the World. Says Sarah Schmidt, VSLB’s CEO and founder, ‘First, we built the avatar body with the precise body type for haute couture and set the poses and created the textures for the skin, eyes and hair. Next, we modelled the base shape of the garments to the avatar in a T pose. From the T pose, the avatar was animated to the final pose to simulate the look. Fabric textures followed, while jewellery and accessories were created in dierent software. Each piece was brought as a raw file into the final rendering software, where we textured the look. Each back plate received special lighting settings to enhance colours.

The digital reinvention of the show might have been considered ‘counter-cultural’ ve years ago. Now, the medium appears a viable alternative. It’s also friendlier to the planet than physical shows and shoots, with their elaborate sets and vast teams that, along with the audience, y into fashion capitals from all over the world. The Fashion Innovation Agency at the London College of Fashion is working on a project with experience creation studio Helo, AR pioneers Rewind, and design agency Twin Studio. ‘The shift is being brought about by necessity, but the benefits will far outweigh the criticism in the long term. Covid-19 has accelerated the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution in many industries, including fashion. Digitisation is less wasteful and more inclusive,’ says Phoebe Smith, managing director of Helo, which has bases in London, New York and LA.

There is a cluster of brands and designers who are also choosing to show off-grid or in hybrid ‘phy-gital’ shows. Saint Laurent and Gucci will not be taking part in forthcoming September fashion weeks. Meanwhile, show design and production agency Bureau de Betak set up a division, Bureau Future, two years ago, specialising in digital strategy and technology that amplies the live event online. Says founder Alex de Betak, ‘One of the tools that will help fashion become more eco-responsible is digital broadcasting. Covid-19 has accelerated that need, as will the recession. Nothing can replace the live events and physical encounters, but the parameters of the show need to be updated with a reduction in the size of the audience.

Without the constraints that come with a huge audience, designers are freed up creatively.’ De Betak produced a Jacquemus show off-schedule in a Paris suburb in July for a restricted audience, and a Dior cruise presentation in Puglia, Italy. ‘We are looking at how to amplify the experience online with interactive features and AR. With that shift brands can attract fresh eyes and audiences.’ What the new era of showmanship is giving fashion enthusiasts as well as industry professionals is an unprecedented insight into the ateliers, the processes and the inspirations behind the collections. It is pushing the parameters and expanding the ideals and aspirations that fashion embodies.

This article originally appeared in the September 2020 issue of Wallpaper* (W*257) – on newsstands now and available for free download here

Soundbite: ‘Restorative'. With just one word — uttered in his podcast The Memory Of, that he has been using in the past few seasons in lieu of backstage interviews — John Galliano perfectly summed up his latest collection for Maison Margiela. The term is highly suggestive: of mending, repurposing and giving a second life to an object. But also of restoring well-being. After all, isn’t that what sustainability does for us? With their new label Recicla, the brand is aiming to reconstruct and repurposed vintage finds selected by Galliano himself, each of which will of course be sold as a limited edition item. ‘The idea is that this voyage of discovery supports this feeling of being inventive with a conscience', added the designer. ‘It’s a return to worth, to all those things we believe in.' 

Best in show: Then again, mixing a return to timeless classics with unbridled creativity is John Galliano’s specialty, and he proved in once again with this collection. An evolution from last month’s Artisanal offering (ever since his Dior days, Galliano has always chosen for his haute couture to trickle down into his ready-to-wear in this way), it explored the limits and possibilities of a typical bourgeois wardrobe. It was all there: day coats, reworked in gigantic proportions, split in the middle mixing wool and silk, torn at the seams and worn as a sort of trompe-l’oeil plastron, and, of course, décortiqué-ed and interspersed with tulle. Shirts and trousers worked in unexpected proportions, tulle dresses mixed with heavy wool. A sense of playfulness inundated the collection, from the fabric contrasts to the exquisite palette of crimson, leaf green, cornflower blue, gold, lilac and black.

Finishing touches: With Galliano’s Margiela, each look packs a punch, from the assemblage of clothes to Pat McGrath’s makeup to, of course, the accessories. 5C bags made from reclaimed skins accompanied new models of Tabi — Maison Margiela’s trademark shoe, which has sparked an enthusiastic cult following and become a kind of fashion totem — worked as Mary Janes, lace-up derbies, tasseled loafers and knee-high boots. Hamper baskets were part of the Recicla collection, each one completely unique. The final touch, though, was the biodegradable jewellery, made from chain-inserted fresh fruits and vegetables. It doesn’t get much more restorative than that.

Moodboard: John Galliano has always been at his best among history books., which is where he found himself back at yesterday, after a couple of seasons spent delving on the digital world and the whims of Generation Z. This time, though, it was the silent generation that inspired him, and its liberation efforts and time spent at war. As it turned out, the choice of subject came across as more of a commentary on today’s political goings on than a historicism exercise; the nurses, soldiers and sailors gleefully strutting the catwalk, in all their cabaret-esque glory, were a dialogue between present and past. Or, as the show notes put it, ‘stories of hope, heroines and liberation, forgotten as history draws ever closer to repetition.’ In the week where Trump’s impeachment has been announced and the Brexit debate has hit a boiling point, Galliano’s hopeful, politically charged message seemed particularly on point.

Best in show: Walking dramatically to a muted version of Lili Marleen, models were clad in an array of classic menswear fabrics and shapes. It was all no-frills and utilitarian, from the nurse capes (paired with beautiful organza headgear) to the décortiqué trench coats, the oversized blazers (in overblown geometric camouflage prints in tones of olive and moss green) and the shift dresses. Watteau dresses – classic Galliano – were made to look like parachutes. Utilitarian pockets and comfort – in the shape of oversized duvet coats – were essential. And Galliano further winked at the ways of the silent generation by using upcycling, holes and elements of make do and mend. Which, again, was a timely reflection on today’s fast fashion obsession.

Finishing touches: John Galliano’s unusually political message this season came in a gleeful camp packaging, but was that a way to give a rosy tint to an otherwise reflective show, or was it actually yet another political statement? Models (of all genders) walking in vertiginous heels with the assurance of cabaret singers, knee-high boots, crocodile leather bags and asymmetrical clutches and boas seemed less like pure unnecessary ornament than very necessary LGBTQ activism. ‘I love this spirit of activism’, the designer explained in a Maison Margiela podcast release after the show. Without the shadow of a doubt, the audience did too.

Mood board: Instagram feeds, live runway streams, show reports filmed by reviewers on phones... fashion weeks’ digital coverage can be dizzying. When John Galliano presented his prismatic S/S 2019 Artisanal collection in January, the designer was preoccupied by the barrage of information that bombards Gen Z, and their difficultly to decipher what’s true in today's virtual vortex. His A/W 2019 was an antidote to this ‘digital decadence’. A reduced and restrained presentation of garments that drew on the brand’s typically deconstructed aesthetic and the spliced and reassembled ‘Decortique’ approach which Galliano introduced when he joined the house.

The collection featured pieces reduced to their truest form using humble menswear fabrics like herringbone, flannel and cavalry twills – like men’s trousers twisted into a bustier dress, a faux leather trench sported as long shorts, tailored trousers flattened into bulbous skirts. There were still elements of excess here – after all we’ll never truly dial down all that digital colour. The men’s looks were the most notably flamboyant (genderless design was a preoccupation of Galliano’s S/S 2019 ready-to-wear offering). Skinny jacquard trousers had colourful flamingo patterns, and wadded coats nodded to the brand’s squidgy Glam Slam bag.

Best in show: Paris has a penchant for the power shoulder, see Saint Laurent and Lemaire for more maxi shapes. At Maison Margiela, boxy jackets and double-breasted coats had oversized curving shoulders and sleeves that resembled thick tubes.

Sound bite: For the show, Galliano released the sixth iteration of his ‘The Memory of…’ podcast which allows the Gen Z audience he considers each season to hear more about the inspiration behind his collections. ‘I wanted to produce that feeling of being unsatiated, if only to inspire myself and the team to a new direction,’ he explains. ‘The artifice, the excess, the toning down, degenerated to what I’m feeling today… taking things right down to the purest, to the necessary.

If you scroll through American interior designer Anthony Baratta’s Instagram profile, you’ll find it near impossible not to screenshot the neat and ocean-kissed home décor images that abound there. Think elegant wing chairs upholstered in sorbet deckchair stripes or layered with bold patchwork quilts, check or tartan wallpaper, fixtures festooned with nautical motifs, and rooms brought to life in vibrant shades of yellow, blue and red.

It transpires too, that Max Mara can’t get enough of Baratta’s interior design acumen. After spotting his Instagram profile online, the Italian label has enlisted him to collaborate on a breezy Weekend Max Mara capsule collection, inspired by the American summertime island retreat Nantucket.

‘What a funny world we live in today. Where people see everything that you do. It’s fascinating!’ enthuses Baratta of the social media serendipity. His 12-piece Weekend Max Mara collection is made up of his interior design calling cards, and features a lightweight duster coat emblazoned with Chinese porcelain vases, flared skirts with decoupage roses, gingham and rickrack detail sundresses and trousers tiled with Baratta’s own furniture designs.

‘I approached the collaboration in a similar way to a decorating job,’ Baratta explains. ‘In my work generally and in this collection, I work to convey a casual attitude, through the use of classic fabrics and colourations’. Whether you’re headed to Nantucket or somewhere closer to home, there are beachy yet bold, romantic yet rollicking pieces here for any summertime sojourn. 

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Anthony Baratta website and the Max Mara website

Scene setting: Huge video screens emblazoned Maison Margiela’s stark white show set at the Grand Palais. On its screens, the faces of the avant-garde Belgian label’s latest ‘My Mutiny’ fragrance, including Teddy Quinlivan, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Molly Blair and Sasha Lane. Women whose identities subvert the codes of modern beauty, modern rebels leading the charge against society’s generic expectations of sexuality, gender and outward appearance. A fitting formula for a house renowned for its subversive approach to fashion, its deconstruction and surrealism – its founder a man who rebelled against the expectations of a fashion designer, invisible to the public and press. John Galliano, too, who took the creative helm of the house four years ago, a creator of flamboyant narratives, and extravagant identities. ‘Being who you are is an act of defiance,’ said Quinlivan through the television screens, the runway collection which followed a call to arms against the status quo.

Mood board: In the mid 1980s, Galliano – a recent St Martins graduate – was a regular at Leigh Bowery’s Leicester Square club night Taboo. This was a club night where your outfit was everything, a chance to rock flamboyant, gender-fluid and outrageous designs, and dance all night alongside Boy George, Billy Idol and Stephen Jones. For S/S 2019, the designer looked to Gen Z’s interpretation of this aesthetic. In the podcast released to accompany the show he speaks of the ‘idea of being able to present gender in a more fluid way,’ and it’s liberation ‘in the point of view of design.’ This culminated in a men’s and women’s spring collection, which looked to ‘carry out transformation through cutting.’ Through his ‘Décortiqué’ technique he created ‘cross-pollinated’ garments, one piece with a memory of another, like a cape spliced with the silhouette of a summer dress, a jacket with a swimming costume hemline, a column gown with the cuttings of a negligée. Alongside these hybrid silhouettes came a heavy dose of nightclub drama, all ostrich feather embellishments, wet look fabrics and glittering jacquards, Galliano’s take on ‘nomadic glamour.’

Finishing touches: There was a futuristic flourish in the accessories, like plastic bucket hats and flying helmets, an iPhone clipped practically to the side of a boot, and a pair of headphones trailing from the ear. The sound of Galliano’s take on gender and identity today, is one that we are listening to.

Mood board: Minimal and sharp, these clothes had a city slickness to them, with no frills or highfalutin proposals on gender. The look was direct and masculine. ‘I wanted to go beyond streetwear, to find a new form of sophistication, to place value on design and craftsmanship,’ artistic director Lucas Ossendrijver said. ‘I wanted to rediscover a more intimate form of luxury.’ He explored contrasts; daytime and evening, fullness and flatness. A strip of fabric sewn between the layers of a bomber jacket inflated the garment, giving it volume as it moved. A tattoo artist created a series of prehistoric animal drawings, mystical symbols, stars and insects printed on silk shirts.

Best in show: The clothes were dynamic. A real proposition for men with a metropolitan sensibility. S/S 2019 had none of the poetry or loucheness seen elsewhere this season; there wasn’t a bias cut drape, couture cuff or elaborate textile. There was no subverting of archetypes. Ossendrijver was more forthright. Summer suiting had sheer backs; a long shirt had a regular cotton crepe t-shirt back and could be worn either way. There were lots of different trousers too, some cropped with slight flare, skinny with cargo pockets and wide with straps at the cuffs. Arms were free, jumpers undone into tabards, padded parkas worn open and asymmetrically. Zip up sides on gilets were left open, giving movement and undoneness to the look. A technical jacket was worn on the shoulders of a tailored coat. A jacket collar was gathered to suggest a hood.

Scene setting: There have been some wow sets this season – a 200-metre-long rainbow runway at Louis Vuitton. A colossal BFF by KAWS made out of fresh roses at Dior. Galliano borrowed surrealist vanitas works by the American artist Tony Matelli and placed them into Margiela’s atelier. Ermenegildo Zegna’s show was held in the shadow of Oscar Niemeyer’s Mondadori building in Milan. Yet, there is real impact when a designer has the confidence to strip the set to the minimum.

Ossendrijver took us deep into the basement of the Palais de Tokyo. Its unfinished walls and concrete floors said nothing – the staging was bare but for the finale which saw the models race down the spiral staircase through a cloud of smoke into darkness. They walked in random directions as if rushing to catch trains or get to work. ‘That echoes the collection – opposites: day and night,’ Ossendrijver said backstage of the frenzied choreography. There was a fury – an aggression. The models walked with a sense of unknown purpose, striding – zig-zagging – between us. Just getting on with it.

Mood board: The S/S 2019 season is jam-packed with firsts. Simon Porte Jacquemus will launch his men’s collection with a show in Marseille, Virgil Abloh presented his debut at Louis Vuitton and Kim Jones unveiled his vision for Maison Dior. Journalists who had seen a preview waxed lyrical about Jones’s hi-res haute, with floral patterns drawn from Dior’s personal porcelain, and feather embroideries by Maison Lemarié overlaid in vinyl to look like glazed china. The toile de jouy chosen for the original boutique at 30 Avenue Montaigne is resurrected as a new logo. Jones spent seven years at Louis Vuitton nurturing a smart, sports-lux approach, making sophisticated elegant clothes in the finest textiles. At Dior he has set the bar even higher, ramping up the richness, the mood and the metier.

Best in show: There’s a hunger for hardcore tailoring and bespoke detailing in the air. In episode one of Maison Margiela’s podcast: ‘The Memory of… With John Galliano’, the designer talks about a yearning for glamour ahead of his men’s Artisanal debut. Rei Kawakubo riffed on suits at Comme des Garçons; at Brioni, Nina-Maria Nitsche showed an exquisite double breasted jacket in vintage kimono fabrics that will be made to order. At last there is some resistance to the streetwear modus operandi. At Dior, a wrap-around jacket style pays homage to the silhouette of the brand’s A/W 1950 couture collection; shirts cowl at back to reveal the nape of the neck. The collection had a dialled down lightness and ease to balance the current mood for crisp, tailored perfection. Suiting was in light cashmere and summer mohair. Sheer pinstripe trousers were paired with repeat logo lace vests and monogram high-top sneakers.

Team work: American artist KAWS reinterpreted the brand’s classic bee motif which flitted across the collection; the show set featured a giant KAWS BFF figure constructed by Eric Chauvin using some 70,000 roses. Yoon of Ambush designed the jewellery using the iconic CD logo, flowers and insects. Matthew Williams of cult brand 1017 ALYX 9SM created a new metal buckle for the house, while longstanding Dior collaborator Stephen Jones crafted millinery based on original menswear styles in the archives.

A footless Roman warrior lies broken on the ground, sprinkled with berries and a split mango; a concrete bust of a woman is draped in satsumas. The location is the Maison Margiela atelier at 163 rue Saint-Maur, where a group of four Greco-inspired concrete and marble sculptures by the American artist Tony Matelli have been installed for the occasion of John Galliano’s debut Artisanal men’s show for the house.

The elegant wit of Matelli’s pieces works in tandem with Galliano’s theatrical grandeur. Both artist and designer use deconstruction, juxtaposition and trompe l’oeil to provocative effect. ‘I’ve been aware of Galliano as a cultural figure for a long time, but truthfully hadn’t known a lot about his work,’ Matelli says. ‘As far as his own work mirroring mine, or mine mirroring his, to me it is almost irrelevant.’ The collision of their worlds reveals similarities and connections that might otherwise be missed. Both Galliano and Matelli transgress the natural state of materials. They both have a sense of passion and poignancy.

There’s a fantastic scrappy finesse to Galliano’s clothes. The new menswear bespoke line explores how the highest form of dressmaking might look for the modern man. Authentic textiles from classic tailoring and haute couture suggested an alternative masculinity. Satin-back crêpe and tweed were bias-cut. More outré organza, chiffon and silk served camp verve. And with their fruits balanced on heads and hips, Matelli’s vanitas sculptures have a jester-like quality about them too, though they underscore a deeper, poetic truth about the impermanence of material objects. Repurposed concrete and marble have been scoured, sandblasted and defaced. The fruits are all cast in bronze and then painted as if freshly picked.

‘I know people like to talk about these works as playful, but to me they’re intended as dark objects,’ Matelli affirms. ‘They’re serious. Even if there’s a casualness about the way the fruits are laid on the marble antiquities, I only see the pathos and poetic-ness in them.’ These sculptures are in a sense ruined. ‘They have come to the end of their material life.’ Everything is ever-changing.

Mood board: John Galliano is famed for his theatrical flair. During his tenure at Christian Dior, the designer created dramatic fashion shows based around spectacular narratives, taking guests on journeys through the geisha world of Japan, the streets of Paris during the French Revolution, or the Joan of Arc’s battlefield. This season, Galliano was preoccupied with an everyday interpretation of glamour, deconstructing wardrobe staples into spectacular garments, like a trench coat into a strapless dress, a riding jacket into a gold buttoned bustier or a rose print towelled bathrobe into an evening dress. This was a collection aimed at elevating travel- and leisurewear into something new and special, with pieces suffused with shimmering fragments of mosaic, plumes of feathers, gauzy organza and golden jacquards.

Finishing touches: Galliano was particularly taken with the unconscious glamour of travel, and the elegant haste of women on the go. This meant clothing and accessories dangling with airport luggage tags like ‘Priority’, and ‘First Class’. Sleeping masks were worn as headbands and travel pillows were cinched around the neck – the Maison Margiela woman has no time to take off the trappings of travel when rushing for an interconnecting flight.

Best in show: The house introduced a new soft bag style called the Glam Slam. This cushiony clutch resembled the arm of a Chesterfield sofa, complete with rows of button upholstery. The perfect pillow for a long haul flight, and a fitting symbol of the Maison Margiela mile-high club

Paul Helbers likes to make daily dressing effortless. He has a fascination with everyday workwear and his eponymous label, launched in January 2016, mixes athleisure and tailored pieces in luxurious fabrics. Now our Handmade brief has allowed the Dutch designer, who has headed up menswear at Maison Margiela and Louis Vuitton, to take his passion further. His see-through closet allows you to take in your wardrobe at a glance, without even opening it, helping you select the perfect outfit every morning.

‘The wardrobe is built on a pedestal and puts your clothes on display, like in a museum,’ says Helbers. Crafted by the British cabinetmaker Smallbone using oxidised English oak and featuring transparent doors in clear polished acrylic, the design subverts the concept of concealed domestic storage, bringing a vision of everyday clothing to the forefront. ‘I like to think of it as a treasure reservoir,’ he adds. ‘The wardrobe’s transparency and serene appearance guides you calmly through your clothing options. Whether your clothes are colourful or minimal, dark or baroque, its simple shape will articulate their display.’

Helbers is used to working with a host of skilled artisans to produce the materials in his own collections, so his collaboration with the West Country-based Smallbone was a pleasing match. Founded in 1978 and now owned by London-based company Canburg, the brand is a leader in fitted British furniture, its joiners working by hand in the small market town of Devizes, where they devoted more than 500 hours to the construction of the wardrobe. ‘Paul’s grasp of the practicalities and challenges of manufacturing was evident,’ says Iain O’Mahony, director of special projects at Canburg.

From mélange wool to pebble-grain leather, fabrics in Helbers’ current, A/W17 collection have a well-worn patina. The oak used to create the wardrobe’s frame has a similar weathered quality, evoking the colours of driftwood. ‘The palette was set by Paul, to capture his fascination with the honesty of driftwood,’ O’Mahony says. ‘The oxidising treatment is a hand-applied process that we developed to capture his aesthetic intent.’

Adds Helbers, ‘Throughout the design, the grain of the wood is assembled in different directions. It evokes a fabric-like quality.’ The transparent, polished acrylic panels that make up the wardrobe’s doors, along with the linear door handles and shoe-bars crafted in satin-finished stainless steel, offer a smooth contrast to the open-grained frame. ‘We looked to the film industry for guidance on how to use acrylic as a construction material,’ says O’Mahony.

Clean lines were paramount in the wardrobe’s construction. The doors were made using discreet tenons (joints) and a concealed hinge, sourced from Japan. Their mounted acrylic panels were fixed using brushed stainless-steel captures. ‘The doors hold the only element of embellishment, inspired by post-war brutalist church architecture, where mouldings were created in unconventional materials,’ Helbers says.

The wardrobe’s interior is just as considered. Clothing is hung on custom-made timber coat hangers, and accessory boxes come in a combination of dovetailed oak and precision-mitred acrylic, with minimalist rebated lids. A lighting extrusion, developed by Smallbone, sits discreetly within the design and casts tuneable LED lighting back into the piece, illuminating its contents. ‘The concept can be extended, simplified or elaborated,’ Helbers says. ‘But the real remaining question is, are your clothes ready to be exhibited?’

As originally featured in the August 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*221)

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Helbers and Smallbone websites

Mood board: It was a typically diverse and eccentric collection from John Galliano at Maison Margiela, combining the house’s deconstructed codes- a cut out trench-coat with a corset silhouette, a double-breasted coat with sheer panels, with an extensive range of references. Deconstructed varsity jackets, layered with plaid suits and Statue of Liberty cut out details nodded to America, a focal point of many collections for A/W 2017, the Statue of Liberty silhouette emphasised even more with crown-like baker boy hats in shearling and suede. Polka-dots, tapestry-prints, and jackets patchworked with tartan scarves all added to the more-is-more effect.

Best in show: A cream tailored suit, paired with an asymmetric bandeau top was a more toned down take on the collection, while an oversized tweed jacket, cinched at the waist, featured interesting cut outs in the shape of amphibious animals. 

Finishing touches: At Dior, Galliano always maintained an obsession with millinery, and during his tenure at Maison Margiela he has imagined both bee-keeper hats and futuristic skull caps. For A/W 2017, he turned the 5AC bag, first seen on the A/W 2016 runway, literally on its head, adorning its base with feathers and placing it as a hat on models heads. Peacock feathers and strands of thread also acted as  hair accessories, while elbow length gloves were covered DIY-style with colourful stickers. Margiela’s iconic two toed ‘Tabi’ boot was also reimainged with a sporty drawstring detail, in claret and grey snakeskin.

Mood board: Last season, Maison Margiela presented its menswear collection just as the results of the EU referendum were announced. This time around, the brand’s presentation fell on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration. So who knows what we can expect come June this year? In times of political uncertainty, as always, the response from the creative community has been to make more art. Following a major exhibition last summer at the Pompidou Centre, the designers at Margiela looked to the Beat Generation – that oft-referenced period in the 1950s which saw hordes of city-dwelling teens reject the conventional in favour of self-expression and bebop. This was a brave new world of poetry, philosophy and pizzazz.

Scene setting: The Beat Generation 2.0 sat in peaceful protest. A milieu of artists and philosophers had been cast, wearing clothes that were unapologetically French; a Rive Gauche loucheness. The house’s well explored military references were here made a little softer and free of anger and violence. The clothes all had a worn-in, confident wit to them. One boy sat quietly bent into his copy of Henri Bergson’s The World of Dreams, studying a chapter on space and homology. Our future will perhaps seem a little less bleak wearing a grey Prince of Wales check overcoat and split cuff trousers.

Finishing touches: With its cerebral dedication to the process of making, the label chose to leave many of the clothes incomplete, as if their creators had been interrupted. The shoulders of a tailored jacket were left with their topstitching and with unfinished prints. Split shirting, cord-tied outerwear and hand knit sweaters or natural shearlings were sprayed with positive, upbeat colour.

Mood board: There were so many ideas in each look at Maison Margiela, that it was clear John Galliano’s brain is yet again in creative overdrive. From block-letter printed shirts, push-lock belts and embellished gloves to much stranger details like egg-shell shaped caps, funky coloured earpieces and entire leather jackets as sleeves, there are endless elements to uncover here.

Best in show: Surprisingly wearable items were many of the beige and pastel-hued trenchcoats, and the checked print that was used on skirts, jackets, short shorts and shirt dresses.

Finishing touches: The famous Margiela Tabi boots were given a new look in red and white or khaki prints, and even what seemed like Enlightenment-era portraiture. Velcro straps were added on as a fastening in addition to zips on some.

INFORMATION

Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

Mood board: John Galliano took an eclectic bowerbird approach to his A/W 2016 Margiela collection, marrying a patchwork of military inspired outerwear pieces with overtly feminine, if not dainty, sheer pinafores, pussy bows blouses and billowing gowns. As the show notes read: a collection where the ‘bourgeois and brutal are encrusted within hybrid garments’.

Best in show: Iridescence was liberally sprinkled throughout the défilé collection from a Lurex pleated skirt that softened Galliano’s khaki officer tailoring with its molten luster, to a number of bias-cut gowns that shimmered with pearlescence. Transparent blouses held the same beetle wing nacreous, along with the Brit’s spun sugar thin pinafores, before a silver Glomesh topped the heavy metal weight in.

Finishing touches: Buckle up: Galliano’s bringing the belt back in a big way with supersized, Western-style hardware that cinched most of his eccentrically layered looks. On foot it was jazzy Ziggy Stardust platform boots, tricked up penny loafers or flashy silver hiking boots.

INFORMATION

Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

Mood board: There was a lot going on in John Galliano’s sophomore ready-to-wear collection for Maison Margiela: fishnets and candy coloured beehives, silver accents in many forms, Ziggy Stardust-esque make-up, clingfilm tights and Geisha elements. All also on male models. 

Finishing touches: A backpack attached to a kimono-sleeved jacket added a contemporary feel, and so did utility style bows and belts that threw off the traditional Japanese theme, especially when teamed with shower-cap headwear. 

Best in show: The genius Galliano touch came through in his vibrant colour combinations. Green was paired with yellow, dark brown with turquoise and cherry red and dégradé blue with pink detailing, adding to the theatricality of his impeccable structured gowns and sharply cut tops. 

INFORMATION

Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

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Kickboxers throwing punches at a live match hosted by Snoop Dogg, who rapped his heart out in front of tattooed, motocross-padded models at Philipp Plein’s men’s show

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Hunchbacked models at Maison Margiela

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Metal cage-covered rooms, of varying proportions, built by OMA for the Prada men’s show space

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‘Boob bag’, handcrafted from dark shiny leather, on Christopher Lemaire’s runway (‘Free the nipple!’ cried social media immediately afterwards)

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Thugged-out Looney Tunes characters dripping in bling at Jeremy Scott’s women’s Moschino show

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Kilograms of culatello consumed by 1,000 people in three hours, together with 170 bottles of Fortana del Taro red wine, at Caruso’s Milan presentation

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Rising section of the runway at Saint Laurent, where models and rock star Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean started their catwalk procession

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Male models blatanly flashing their genitalia in frontal windows strategiacally cut out of their flowing floor-length tunics at Rick Owens

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Million followers on Instagram for 29-year-old Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing, the most-followed fashion designer in France

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Hands that work on Kiton’s suits

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Kickboxers throwing punches at a live match hosted by Snoop Dogg, who rapped his heart out in front of tattooed, motocross-padded models at Philipp Plein’s men’s show

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Trees and plants that Ermenegildo Zegna planted inside Milan’s former Fiera for its fashion show, all of which were later replanted as part of the Zegna Oasis environmental project

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Models swaddled in a cocoon of white bows at the Comme des Garçons show

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Headdresses in the shape of lampshades at Junya Watanabe

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Years after their first outing that Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson reprised their Zoolander roles by staging a surprise live runway walk-off at the Valentino show in Paris

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Boys at Gucci doing the girl thing in silky bow-front blouses

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Mary J Blige impromptu concert, staged by DSquared2’s Dean and Dan Caten at the end of the brand’s 20th anniversary show in Milan

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Moncler Gamme Bleu menswear models who quick-changed out of their jockey-inspired uniforms into totally new looks under flashing strobe lights

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Kanye West charity concert nights organised by Bernard Arnault’s son Alexandre at the Louis Vuitton Foundation during Paris Fashion Week

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Face and ear piercings on the female models at Givenchy, while four men had their mouths held tightly shut with cage-like metal clamps

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Couples (both hetero and gay) dressed for 25 sports at Moncler Grenoble’s pop-up ski lodge in New York, including a bride and groom in full wedding outerwear

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Days to assemble Chanel’s pop-up brasserie set inside Paris’ Grand Palais, which featured 9m-high walls, tiled floors, 100 seats and 14 barmen serving coffee, juice, champagne and croissants

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Life-sized, fully functioning roller coaster, complete with screaming riders, installed inside Milan’s retired Fiera for Philipp Plein’s womenswear show

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Books in the pop-up library at Julie de Libran’s Sonia Rykiel show

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Age of ex-model Benedetta Barzini, who was the star of Antonio Marras’ runway show

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Spinning 20ft towers that glided across the Kenzo runway like giant chess pieces

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Infants, toddlers and children, plus one very pregnant model, walking the runway at Dolce & Gabbana’s women’s show

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Fur handbags in the shape of bird of paradise flowers on the Fendi runway

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Rare pearls on a $150,000 Calvin Klein dress, which was stolen from the hotel room of actress Lupita Nyong’o after the Oscars

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Models wearing cashmere shoe laces at the Brunello Cucinelli presentation

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Handbags shaped and printed like ceramic coffee saucers at Chanel

Dior: For A/W 2015-16, Raf Simons invited us into Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights reimagined by Bureau Betak. Referencing the Adam and Eve tale of innocence and temptation, Simons' fashion vision was executed through the gaze of the Flemish and French masters of both art and couture craft, and all housed within a geometrically paned greenhouse-cum-church-cum nightclub that was painted with pointillist dots

Dior: Juxtaposing themes of depth and light, richly draped Vermeer-esque cape coats and billowing, smock-like embroidered sheaths looked like they'd walked off an Old Master's canvas. This flowing chiffon silhouette was later chopped into hand painted baby doll dresses jewelled with 'cannage' gilets, offering a modern spin on archaic chain mail.

Dior: Under the illustrated panes, red carpet dressing took a similarly charmed approach, as side-less gowns - secured to the body with gilt gold chains - appeared as if an offering to king or master. 'I was intrigued by the idea of the forbidden fruit, and what that meant now,' Simons explained in his show notes, 'The idea of purity and innocence versus luxury and decadence and how that is encapsulated by the idea of Dior's garden - no longer a flower garden but a sexual one.' 

Fendi: Set against the imposing backdrop of one of Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico's most famous works, Karl Lagerfeld presented his first Haute Fourrure collection for the Roman furrier, courting quiet controversy at the Theatre des Champs-Élysées and marking the designer's 50th year at the house. The Art Deco building lent a particularly theatrical stage upon which to flex Fendi's masterful fur pedigree; the house even provided Fendi-issued opera glasses to offer a more intimate viewing of the collection's finer details (fur corsages included).

Fendi: With both the Arnault and Fendi families watching from the venue's boxes, sable, chinchilla, lynx and mink pelts were finessed into myriad graphic patterns and sumptuous swirling combinations. Each exit, some festooned with feathers, others spliced with transparent panels, was a testament to the furrier's unparalleled expertise and warranted arrival on the couture calendar.

Chanel: Karl Lagerfeld transported his A/W Chanel couture show to a private casino within the Grand Palais, complete with a live high-rollers blackjack mise en scène (decorated with celebrity friends of the house), roulette tables and even Chanel branded slot machines. As chips changed hands, Lagerfeld's 'neo tomboys', parading about the card tables in 3D printed skirt suits, debuted the house's new high-tech 'selective laser sintering' technique, utilised in unison with Chanel's petites mains to fashion the collection.

Chanel: Also circumnavigating tradition was Lagerfeld's 2015 couture bride, resplendent in an off-white silk tuxedo and finished with a simple tulle veil, which spoke more of a Vegas-style elopement than the current trend for gala weddings that are littering our Instagram feeds

Viktor & Rolf: With their models donning gilt framed canvases, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren reprised their very first 1998 haute couture show's Living Art concept, taking to the stage for a performance piece that saw the designers undressing and hanging their works live within the Palais de Tokyo.

Viktor & Rolf: Titled Wearable Art, the morphing collection, grounded by blue smocks, blurred the baroque with action painting techniques, resulting in a fittingly unhinged presentation that was surreal to behold. Just as art imitates life, a piece from the collection is soon to be hung within long-standing Viktor & Rolf collector Han Nefkens' Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

Schiaparelli: New creative director Bertrand Guyon (an alumnus of Valentino and Givenchy) looked to Elsa Schiaparelli's early years for his debut collection, which saw its founder's iconic motifs liberally lavished throughout. Schiaparelli's ES initials were monogrammed onto a frilled ivory blouse, just as her preferred iris bloom was patchworked into hyper-hued fur coats. The founder's Dali telephone powder compact was furthermore reinvented as a clutch bag

Schiaparelli: Jewelled brocade made up much of the show's strong tailoring offering, while Elsa Schiaparelli's riding culottes were re-cut in fringed plaid as Guyon's eveningwear ranged from a jewel strapped black plunging velvet column to a suitably 'shocking' pink diaphanous gown that will no doubt be swiftly snapped up for future red carpets.

Giambattista Valli: The Roman designer only conceives dresses that make an entrance, from his ruffled tulle gowns with two-metre-plus trains (this season in electric orange) to his baby doll minis patchworked with jewelled, laser-cut lace. This season was no different.

Giambattista Valli: That said, it was A/W's quieter tunic and Capri pant looks - one fringed in feathers from the knee, others entirely jewelled - that offered an intriguing break from the season's hyper sweetened, fairytale flou, which saw experimentations with volume via puffball hems and Regency-era trailing gowns. 

Jean Paul Gaultier: The French designer tripped back to his marinière striped signature and the sandy shores of Brittany for A/W - no doubt in response to the retrospective exhibition that has finally arrived back in Paris after a four year world tour. Gold thread embroidery emboldened velvet admiral's jackets, as Breton striped hosiery and knitwear anchored the season's particularly theatrical collection, that concluded with a bagpipe salute.

Dice Kayek: Turkish designer Ece Ege presented a 1970s spin on tuxedo dressing - from her show's opening Le Smoking tail coat to a backless bib top and bow-tie mini skirt - before rainbow hued crystals covered a disco's worth of mini crini dresses, which epitomised the collection's hedonistic theme.

Dice Kayek: Winter's nocturnal rhapsody recalled scenes from Paris' late night Warholian den Le Palace, as Ege revived the eras stroboscopic spirit - all the way down to the models' 1970s issue platforms and a show backdrop that saw a giant mirror ball hanging from the ceiling of Les Arts Décoratifs.

Elie Saab: Nirvana's Come As You Are is as far from an obvious choice for a couture show soundtrack as it gets, especially for a designer overwhelmingly known for high voltage glamour and femininity. That said, Cobain's strained lyrics made for a satisfying contrast to Saab's regal, gold dipped A/W collection, that saw his models crowned with molten Byzantium headpieces as their waists were nipped into glittering goddess dresses. The show was actually a personal nod to the gold wedding dress that Saab had himself designed for his wife Claudine, 25 years ago to the day, which made for a poetic quarter-century love letter.

Armani Privé: This season, Mr Armani was thinking pink - Schiaparelli's shocking pink, even - with a collection that, in addition to colour, was dominated by a exploration of texture; tinsel-like filaments electrified cocktail dresses, while bugle beaded fringes finished bustiers, gowns and tassel belts, reinforcing the rebellious theme.

Ulyana Sergeenko: The Russian designer loves to weave a story from her homeland into her collections' narrative and this season that meant a tale of post-Revolution Soviet communal living, which saw multiple families sharing rooms within the once-grand subdivided apartments of Saint Petersburg. The lawn of her A/W presentation space, Paris' Mona Bismarck American Center, was decorated to loosely reflect this eclectic union of mismatched tastes and levels of society.

Ulyana Sergeenko: Here, the designer's A/W muse found herself awake and listless in the early hours of New Years Day 1937 - the only celebratory day in the Communist calendar that didn't mark a victory or the glory of work. In general, there is something innately nostalgic in Sergeenko's designs, and this collection built upon boudoir-inspired, albeit slightly unhinged, tea dresses and busty sheaths, accompanied by three-quarter-length sleeved furs that could of come from a great aunt's closet. Best in show was a Yelets bobbin lace dress (named after the Russian town where it was made) that took a village of local artisans four months to fashion.

Atelier Versace: This season, Donatella Versace interlaced the house's insatiable air of sexuality with a more romantic, free spirited approach. The designer played with volume and deconstruction, primarily patchworking jewelled lace and hand frayed chiffon sheaths held together with vines of beaded flowers or metal couture 'staples'. From the girls' floral headpieces to their pleated and teased apart gowns, there was an unravelled 'festival' freedom felt throughout. But being a Versace show, there was also an abundance of chain and crystal mesh bustier dresses mingling with her encrusted fil coupé sheaths, floating from their velvet boned corsets and bell sleeves.

Mood board: Social sculpture met the suit in a suitably stripped back, industrial setting. Degraded silver leaf on clear rubber and distressed plaster cast moulds formed the textured baseline for a meditation on minimal lines meeting maximum billow.

Scene setting: A clear and unified vision made for a chic collection of extremely considered tailoring in a palette that evoked the fleeting hues of the very last seconds of a sunset. From burning rouge to languid terracottas and dusky blues, right down to the first glint of silver as the stars begin to twinkle against the dark night sky. 

Best in show: The Margiela man surely wants for nothing with this collection that felt like a complete solution from the thinking man’s fashion brand; he need shop nowhere else. The three-piece, light, wool suit had slim proportions on the leg, the bare minimum of fuss across the chest while the long macintosh provided fluid emotion.

Givenchy: We returned to last season's high school hall for Riccardo Tisci's A/W jumble show. A miscellaneous match of items including arcade games, helmets and out-of-date TV screens decorated the multi-coloured court lines of the Parisian sports hall. The assembled audience watched from a range of velvet armchairs or foldaway garden chairs

Louis Vuitton: For the French brand's second run at its impressive Louis Vuitton Fondation location, all the action was transported outside to an installation of transparent, Buckminster Fuller-esque domes

Louis Vuitton: Designed by Es Devlin, the geodesic structure's seating was splashed with a mix of futuristic tangerine, brown and stark white as natural sunlight flooded the catwalk

Thakoon: Thai-American designer Panichgul Thakoon joined forces with Jonathan Beck on behalf of Dizon Inc to play with high impact colour for Thakoon's A/W set. Tinted film room dividers created a somewhat psychedelic effect as light bounced off them in all directions

Chanel: The luxury brand once again fulfilled expectations (and appetites) with its transformation of the Grand Palais into the 'Brasserie Gabrielle'. Three operational pop-up bars were equipped with Parisian waiters, coffee and newspapers, while the space was set with red leather banquets, wood boiserie panelling and bistro tiled flooring.

Prada: Pastel hues and metallic panelling turned Via Fogazzaro into a futuristic realm for Miuccia Prada's A/W offering

Prada: The show's 'Softer Pop' clothes floated through Mrs Prada's pastel space odyssey made up of diamond shaped silver flooring and ceilings

1205: Palm trees and tumbling foliage were the striking accoutrements to 1205's greenhouse show. The Barbican Centre's central conservatory provided a jungle escape for Paula Gerbase's utility inspired collection. The contrast of brutalism and green leafage set a serene scene for the elegantly tailored collection.

Dsquared2: In comparison to the past season where set designer Stefano Grossi re-created an actual apartment interior for the Caten twin's show, for A/W he went with a more graphic approach. A heavenly white staircase cascaded from a dimly lit, tiled marble entrance from which the models stormed the venue

Edun: New York's Skylight event space was left unembellished for this season's Edun show, leaving the venue's Stefan Beckman block installation to take centre stage. The set designer's studio created twin geometric structures that provided a narrow entrance for Edun's multi-cultural collection

Moncler Grenoble: On Valentine's Day evening we were welcomed into Moncler's 'love factory' inside the Duggal Greenhouse warehouse space within the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Set against a crimson draped backdrop, the action took place about a vibrant red, heart-shaped box. This later opened to reveal an array of his 'n' her Moncler outfits, each primed for a winter sport, before the male and female models took part in a kissing finale

Opening Ceremony: Humberto Leon and Carol Lim once again partnered up with Spike Jonze for their latest unorthodox showcase. This season, the white washed walls of New York's Cheim & Read gallery were plastered with a collage of photography by the American creative, which included profile images of both actresses and musicians

Tommy Hilfiger: There was a rush of all-American spirit surrounding the Tommy Hilfiger show in New York. For the brand's 30th anniversary Randall Peacock's design studio transformed the Park Avenue Armory into a Gridiron football field. Kitted out with 'Hilfiger' scoreboards, floodlights and even a Jumbotron, the stadium waited for the 'players' to storm down the green and compete in sportswear's finest

Dior: Upon returning to the Musée du Louvre, Raf Simons conjured a feminine glass box for Dior's A/W presentation. Producers Bureau Betak juxtaposed the soft pink flooring with thick black pillars and clean white benches, while huge windows offered striking vistas of the sandstone Cour Carrée

Wunderkind: Within the walls of the modern art emporium that is the Palais de Tokyo, autumn's Wunderkind collection was presented under a graphic mirrored enclosure. The concept, by Edwin Lemberg and Christian Weinecke, manipulated the spatial area through huge slanted mirrors that reflected faceted views of the collection around the clinical venue.

Emilio Pucci: Milan's Palazzo Serbelloni offered a palatial farewell to outgoing designer Peter Dundas. The Napoleonic room posed as a grand backdrop for Dundas' astrologically inspired collection, with its gold plating and crystal chandeliers shedding a glistening glow on all below.

Philipp Plein: In true Plein style, the showman's audience was given another thrilling performance to remember. A live music set by Azealia Banks kicked off proceedings, while a giant rollercoaster raced around the darkened theatre hall - save for the banner #pleinwarriors that shone in bright lights

Moncler Gamme Rouge: The outerwear giant took to the great outdoors for its Gamme Rouge showing at the Grand Palais. Equestrian models rode over an autumnal runway that was strewn with a patchwork of crispy brown leaves and green foliage

Kenzo: As creative sets go, Kenzo definitely rose to the occasion for A/W with its moving Paris installation. A 20-foot tall backdrop glided effortlessly across the enormous show space before splitting into six different blocks. The structures then rotated on the spot, revealing foiled metallic sides, which shone rainbow reflections onto Humberto Leon and Carol Lim's collection

Erdem: Back at London's Old Selfridges Hotel, Erdem Moralioglu enlisted the help of set designer Robin Brown to resurrect his A/W muse's fictional 1960s Parisian pied-à-terre

Erdem: Under the moody, shadowed lighting, the stained yellow wallpaper and tousled furniture brought a personal narrative to the artful presentation

Erdem: The retrofied apartment took some seven days to construct and fit-out

Versace: Dontella Versace's models arrived through a commanding red and black backdrop derived from the outer edges of the house's Medusa logo. Although the collection itself was more modest this season, the mood remained seductive thanks to the venue's dim boudoir glow and scarlet Perspex runway

Lacoste: In comparison to last season's themed set, for A/W Bureau Betak gave the spotlight to the brand's sportswear. The Lincoln Centre theatre offered a raw setting with white marking lines leading models around giant concrete pillars

Mary Katrantzou: One of the Royal Horticultural Halls was turned into a girl-power paradise for the Mary Katrantzou's presentation.

Mary Katrantzou: Bureau Betak created a spongy Barbie pink studded runway for the designer's cocktail attire to bounce over.

Proenza Schouler: The New York-based brand ran its sharply tailored collection down a stone tiled catwalk for A/W. Under low-hung lights, a backlit installation loomed over the venue's warm atmosphere.

Antonio Marras: The Milanese designer's gilt embellished set posed the perfect setting to compliment a show dedicated to Italian style icon Benedetta Barzini. Ornately printed walls offered an elaborate backdrop, while 18th century rugs marked the runway

Tod's: The Italian brand took over the Baroque setting of Milan's Palazzo Litta for its A/W runway presentation

Tod's: Deep red walls and gold seating dominated the opulent setting. The Italian brand's models entered from ceiling-high doorways as elaborate mirrors reflected the brand's A/W looks

Fendi: Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp's geometric abstractions boldy coloured both the Roman house's A/W show space and collection. Taeuber-Arp's distinctive style resonated in the graphic prints that ran along each side of the Via Solari venue

Hunter Original: Within the industrial surrounds of London's Albert Embankment Warehouse, Hunter creative director Alasdhair Willis continued his water world theme. This season, a trio of tumbling waterfalls flowed through the darkened venue

Maison Margiela: Although Paris' Grand Palais if often a rather, well, grand affair, Maison Margiela's high gloss white tunnel provided a sterile, blank canvas for John Galliano's first ready-to-wear collection

Marni: Consuelo Castiglioni 's Amazonian A/W 2015 collection was presented in an industrial-style den. The raw set space featured worn down plastered walls, rough grey pillars and a waxy red runway that drew the eye to the main event

With Milan's historical centre as its backdrop, Maison Margiela's latest store opening offers further evidence that John Galliano's recent appointment will safeguard the avant-garde house's experimental design ethos going forward

Coinciding with the international design community's takeover of Milan for the 54th annual Salone del Mobile fair, Maison Margiela has opened its latest boutique on Via Sant'Andrea in collaboration with Wood-Skin - a savvy Milanese company that redefines material possibilities.

With Milan's historical centre as its backdrop, the whitewashed store marries clean, modernistic lines with classical architectural elements and even a little garden enclave. Stretching over 300 sq m, the impressive space's ground floor is reserved for womenswear and accessories, while the first floor is dedicated to the house's 'Artisanal' haute couture line and shoes.

Transporting the elegance of Paris' grand boulevards to the Italian city, Haussmannian ceilings and moulded cornices are juxtaposed with rough concrete surfaces, mirrored walls and tiled floors. The latter span much of the store and even climb the walls, in the form of Wood-Skin's malleable tiled curtain. These details all allude to the deconstructed shapes and silhouettes that Maison Margiela is best known for, and also offer evidence that John Galliano's recent appointment will safeguard the daring aspects of this fashion house's design ethos going forward.

Located on Via Saint' Andrea, the house has collaborated with Milanese design studio Wood-Skin on the store's material fit-out

The black and white tiled floors that span much of the store even climb the walls in the form of Wood-Skin's malleable curtain

Stretching over 300 sq m, the impressive space's ground floor is reserved for womenswear and accessories

The boutique also houses the 'Artisanal' haute couture line

The white washed store marries clean, modernistic lines with classical architectural elements and even a little garden enclave

Transporting the elegance of Paris' grand boulevards to Milan, Haussmannian ceilings and moulded cornices are juxtaposed with rough concrete surfaces and mirrored walls

ADDRESS

Maison Margiela
Via Sant'Andrea 5,
20121 Milano Italy

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