It’s safe to say that H&M are partial to a designer fashion collaboration; Anna Della Russo, Marni and Versace just to name a few, but November 15th sees the launch of the much-hyped collaborative collection by avant-garde Belgian fashion Maison Martin Margiela.
The design house, whose designers wear anonymous white lab technician coats at its catwalk shows, has always been a great innovator. Collections are radical and left field, and this collection of womenswear, menswear and accessories does not disappoint. Unlike H&M’s previous designer collaborations, the Maison Martin Margiela collection is unique in that it solely features re-editions of the house’s most iconic and best-selling pieces. The designs reinterpret iconic pieces from MMM's archive which stretches back 23 years to it’s founding, each piece is labeled with a unique tag which indicates which season it originated. Classically cool neutral pieces are juxtaposed with hyper-textured jackets, tromp l’oeil patterns and jolts of red in a way only Margiela could craft. “In this collaboration, some of our most iconic archive pieces have become modern classics”, states the fashion house.
Constantly questioning the norms of fashion this MMM collaboration takes you to the house’s exploration of new shapes and materials with a completely unique point of view on the art of clothes. Key features in the collection are oversize silhouettes, deconstructed styling and transformation; combined, these garments embody what the house became famous for.
There are too many pieces in the collection that caught my eye – several pieces are fusions of more than one type of garment; women’s bottoms are melded with trousers, halves of two different dresses are combined, leggings are constructed out of mirrored fabric and heels are made out plexi Perspex. There are some garments that are more left field, including the duvet coat, the horizontally worn dress and the nude body with a black integrated bra.
The house also turned everything from key rings, locks of hair, and faceless watches into inventive accessories.
The men’s collection is just as quirky; featuring painted jeans and waistcoats, a jacket made entirely out of belts, the reverse denim jacket and jeans combo, the fusion of several car coats and quite possibly, one of my favourite pieces from the men’s collection – the guitar cover weekend bag.
In true MMM style, the official launch took place at an abandoned building in the New York’s financial district. Celebrities and models including Sarah Jessica Parker, Kanye West, Julianne Moore Selma Blair, Helena Christensen and Doutzen Kroes all attended wearing pieces from the collaboration. The clothes were unveiled to the guests in interpretative abstract dance and installation videos.
Also in the lead-up to the release, 50 models staged a promotional "silent parade", in keeping with MMM's less-is-more philosophy. Wearing logo-emblazoned black-and-white aprons, the models held placards advertising the collection, traipsing through San Francisco without uttering a word, attracting curious passers-by and shoppers. Similar events were staged in H&M stores across the globe, including Paris, London and Singapore.
If the deconstructed flowing shapes feel a little bold, then the flat pumps with removed heels and metallic clutches offer a way of buying into the label without having to go all the way. With this collaboration going for a fraction of the price of original Margiela pieces, the range is bound to please both die-hard fans of the avant-garde fashion label – as well as shoppers less familiar with the brand.
For the full collection click this link and enjoy!
