Margiela at Palais Galliera Paris
On the Contrary
Margiela and denial as assertive act
Attempting to depict the profile of a genius through an exhibition is not a simple task, especially if the subject responds to the name of Martin Margiela. The most innovative designer of the past thirty years. Yet, the Palais Galliera in Paris was able to succeeded in this intent, precisely with an exhibition: Margiela Galliera 1989 – 2009, curated by Alexandre Samson, showing until July 15th. The first Parisian retrospective dedicated to the Belgian designer traces the career of the Master of deconstructivism and the aesthetic of the unfinished – from 1989 to 2009 – through over 100 designs, videos of fashion shows, archives, and installations. Mar- giela’s creations follow deconstructivist tendencies, where the structure of the garment is attacked, tormented, giving clothing a new meaning. This is synonymous of both an aesthetic, stylistic conflict with regard to the glossy image of the period, as well as a symbolic one: the de- construction of the fashion system, in which he demolishes strategies, devising a new language that identifies the most authentic value of a garment in the perception of sartorial workmanship, reject- ing the luxury and ostentation of fashion. In short, his is a “reverse” method of design, for an innovative approach that reveals eve- rything which until then had been hidden: stitching, tacking, sewing – reintroducing and highlighting the different stages of the sartorial experience and taking on the cus- tomizable essence of clothing as one of the cornerstones of the language of the Maison. In salvaging, then repudiating tailor-made fashion, Margiela becomes the creator of the affirmation of craftsmanship by disclaim- ing it, recuperating an artisanal savoir-faire, forcing to reconsider the atelier as a place to experiment. Innovation is collocated with practicality. Martin Margiela , born in Louvain, in Belgium, class of ’57, graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp – was the first to rebel against the philosophy of disposable clothes, something that was widespread in the consumerist society of the ‘80s, promoting the concept of upcycling. A new interest was born – not only for second-hand clothing that, through the fantastical eyes of the designer takes on new life – but also for everyday objects that are reinterpreted by modifying their functionality and use, such as the metamorphosis of a series of wigs that became a jacket or pieces of broken plates that became a vest. The workmanship the garment undergoes makes it rise above its primitive incarnation and acquire a greater new value, which finds its credibility in the deformation of volumes until reaching its paradox: Barbie clothes translated into human proportions or painted clothing, strictly white. The Master’s legacy is huge and inestimable. So much so as to provoke, after more than thirty years, a wave of consent interpreted as the reclamation of his guiding concepts. Margiela said “We are the children of Japanese designers, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto”. Today, it seems that we are all children of Margiela.
Decio Vitali
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