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Fashion-Thinkers Favourite Martin Margiela

Those looking for thought provoking fashion with a conceptual edge look no further than the current Maison Martin Margiela exhibition at Somerset House.

Martin Margiela has been enthralling the fashion pack with its deconstructivist designs since 1988. Set up by Martin Margiela, an ex-assistant to Jean Paul Gaultier, and Jenny Meirens – the house rapidly emerged as a radically alternative offering; experimenting with evolving ideas, silhouettes and finishes.

From the outset it was clear that Maison Martin Margiela was on its own track, an ethos that applied to every element of the business. Forget celebrity endorsement and in-your-face marketing strategies, Martin Margiela shuns the public limelight maintaining focus on the clothes.

‘The only thing we wish to push to the forefront is our fashion.’

Progressive, avant-garde and often crossing over into the realms of art this exhibition takes you on a journey of themes that have underpinned the ethos of the fashion house from the very beginning. Artefacts, video, installations and dressed mannequins conspire to reveal the Maison’s unique concepts and aesthetics.

Prime theme examples include ‘Le Porte’ – garments that can be worn and shown in a variety of ways. ‘Trompe L’Oeil’ – designs printed with imagery of other garments and ‘Destroy’ reworking second-hand clothes into new pieces.

Maison Martin Margiela: ‘We have always enjoyed the challenge of reworking existing clothes, fabrics and objects to create new garments and accessories. This challenge is linked to finding a new role and force for these materials, revisiting their structure and use. For us, it is not that garments are vintage in the sense in which the word is now used. We use materials and garments from many sources and periods, many of them very ordinary.’

Interestingly, while the exhibition reveals 20 years of Maison Martin Margiela a great deal of the designs on display have a timeless quality and equally, as the ‘Personal Wardrobe’ section will testify an ageless appeal too.

Maison Martin Margiela 20 is not just a fashion exhibition - it’s an insightful experience into Margiela’s creative and witty world.

Maison Martin Margiela 20, Somerset House, South Wing, London, WC2R 1LA until 5th September 2010