this year, i had the good fortune of getting tickets to a few shows here in paris. here are my thoughts from the front row*. for posterity’s sake, i’ll divide my thoughts into a few posts, instead of one long, tedious one.
part 1: maison martin margiela
the margiela show was on friday afternoon, at 4:30 pm. the show was held on the seine, in a sort of concrete boat dock basement located in the 13th arrondissment, right down the street from the gare d’austerlitz. i’ll always remember walking up to the show - walking towards the crowd of superbly dressed people (all dressed very “alternatively”, par the course for margiela) waiting to get off the sidewalk. to stroke my ego for a moment, i’ll also always remember walking up to the show, sunglasses on, and getting photographed by literally every photographer outside. the first man who took my picture just had his camera on continuous shot mode and tracked me as i walked past. getting requests for my picture was a very strange experience - it really felt like i was someone, not just an intern.
the scene entering the show space (after getting off the sidewalk)
the space was little more than a long, empty, raw concrete gallery with some black benches, white tube lights (on the floor), and a bunch of overlapping oriental rugs running down the center of the room. when the show actually began, the runway lights turned into a kind of spotlight, with a group of lights turning on or off depending on where the model was on the runway. additionally, the runway was so long that models just walked in on one end and out of the room on the other - one glimpse was all you got.
the show began with a series of long, draped dresses, followed by a mix of more draped pieces and long skirts, with a dash of sharp tailoring thrown in toward the end of the show - mostly all in beige, black, navy, or white. there was a short capsule of three-or-so looks that used a pattern lifted from the rugs the models walked on, but other than that everything was very, very subdued.
my personal favorite “rug” look.
now, what can i say about this collection. i saw a lot of classic margiela in it, from the color palette to the cut-and-sew pieces, to the styling (hair in face and use of “garment bags”), but it really wasn’t memorable. in fact, looking through everything a second time makes me realize i don’t have a favorite look at all. something’s been missing since martin himself left his eponymous house, leaving me with a bittersweet feeling after the show**. still, there’s a divide between what one sees on the computer screen and what one sees walking down the runway - there’s a beauty in motion that’s rarely ever captured in stills, and a lot of these pieces moved very nicely***.
*okay, typically the second row, but “from the front row” sounds better
**i don’t want to sound ungrateful for going, because this couldn’t be further from the truth
***especially the long, black skirt made of a stiff, almost paper-like fabric. reminded me a lot of the rick owens mens s/s 2012 show.
