The autumn breeze envelops the streets of Tokyo with an air of mystery and elegance as Maison Margiela unveils its much-anticipated Artisanal Collection 2024, pushing the boundaries of creativity and haute couture innovation. This time, under the creative direction of John Galliano, we are taken into a world of shadows, reflections, and meticulously crafted details. But to fully grasp this moment, we must look back at the origins of the house, a journey we previously explored in our special feature for the Herdes Flanders Issue.
Founded in 1988 by the enigmatic Martin Margiela, the brand emerged with the mission to break established fashion norms. From the start, Margiela played with deconstruction, anonymity, and ephemerality, challenging the way we perceive clothing. In a world obsessed with ostentation, he chose to reveal the creative process: exposed seams, recycled pieces, and repurposed fabrics were his tools to redefine luxury.
Among his many theatrical runway presentations, I vividly recall the SS 2006 collection and its iconic ability to transform the ephemeral into art, showcasing garments adorned with delicate ice jewels that melted, slowly dyeing the fabrics as models walked down the runway. It was a fleeting poetry that still makes me reflect on how even the most exquisite fashion is transient.
Today, under Galliano’s direction, that disruptive spirit remains alive, evolving with new layers of narrative and emotion. The Tokyo exhibition at the Ebisu boutique is an immersive experience that pays homage to Margiela’s legacy, reinterpreting the notion of fashion as art that unfolds before us, compelling us to admire what is destined to vanish before our eyes.
Climbing those stairs in Ebisu transports us to a hidden Paris of flickering lights and shadows. Here, he delves into deconstruction with an emotional lens, where each garment tells a story beyond its mere construction. Every detail speaks to a devotion to craftsmanship that transcends the ordinary: bias-cut dresses that capture light like reflections on water, lace that fades with the softness of a Parisian sunset, and corsets that reshape the female silhouette with a sculptural precision. It’s an ode to what dressing truly means—not as a superficial act, but as a ritual of self-expression and presence.
Leafing through the leather-bound notebooks documenting Galliano’s early ideas is a testament to his meticulous process. From cameras projecting ghostly silhouettes of visitors to negatoscopes revealing the secrets behind the construction, here it not only exhibits fashion; he invites us to reflect on the fleeting nature of beauty. It feels as though we ourselves become part of the runway, crossing that threshold to become characters in the unfolding narrative.Highlighting the brilliant collaboration with manga artist Tite Kubo, whose window displays for the boutique present poetic scenes that transform the city into the canvas for this collection, is a stroke of genius.
For me, the most inspiring aspect of this vision is how he has managed to preserve Margiela’s original spirit while infusing it with his own narrative flair. This particular collection, with its homage to nocturnal Paris and the characters that inhabit its shadows, is an invitation to see the world with sharper eyes, to find beauty in places where we usually don’t look. Margiela has always been, for me, a reminder that fashion has the potential to be much more than a fleeting trend. It is art, it is emotion, it is a language that, when handled with the mastery seen in this collection, speaks directly to the soul. Galliano has carried that torch with a reverence and boldness that I can only admire deeply.
