Founded in Paris in 1988 by Martin Margiela (together with his partner Jenny Meirens). Considered one of the most avant-garde creators of his generation and belonging to the select club of “the six of Antwerp”. Recognized for his work as an assistant to Jean Paul Gaultier or his collaborations with Rei Kawakubo, only a few years after graduating (1980) he managed to establish himself independently in the world of fashion, contributing his own vision of the industry.
Considering fashion as art and always implementing innovations, it carries out collections that stand out for their silhouettes, shapes, resignifying uses and deconstructions in garments that completely go beyond the norm.
A brand that continuously redefines the differences established between masculine and feminine, merging both concepts, rising a multiplicity of situations where everything is possible, where the limits of the body are completely erased as well as culturally binary rules associated with genres.
From an iconoclastic imagination, he has known how to become a transgressor and revolutionary in fashion, giving a new meaning to clothing from a philosophical, conceptual and artistic point of view.
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In fashion everything remains, everything returns, and this philosophy is taken by the firm to construct pieces from the recycling and transformation of previously used materials. We stand out from the resignification of vintage garments, second-hand materials and textiles and the reuse of archive elements that have a clear sustainable approach and aware of overproduction within the fashion industry.
In 2014, John Galliano was appointed creative director of the House, an important fact since today we cannot talk about the brand without mentioning him. Although he has quite a different approach to the minimalist philosophy and aesthetics present in the firm’s beginnings, Galliano provides a poetic and conceptual vision that interacts with the art that is worth highlighting.
Galliano for Margiela Couture Spring/ Summer 2015
To learn more about the designer and the brand, we recommend watching the documentary “In His Own Words” where his entire career is documented, from his childhood, education and later career. A space where he is sincere publicly for the first time addressing the keys of his prestigious brand. He even explains the reason for his long-term anonymity, highlighting his desire for his creations to be linked to his name and not his face.
He is definitely a designer that, from Arena Martínez, we appreciate for his daring and innovation when it comes to expressing his ideas, for his interest in making fashion an art, which goes above the markets and industries that depersonalize our relationship with clothing so much.
Fashion has a place where it can tell us a lot about a designer depending on his transgressions with the established, communicating visions about the world, philosophies of life and different identities.
And there is the interesting thing about this great universe that does not give so many possibilities. The union with art that we propose is not arbitrary, is a particular way of thinking and understanding the identification of the body with the garment, the garment with art and the body in space. We understand that clothing can go beyond its functionality and can establish a strong bond with the person who wears it.
