Deconstructed Romantics at Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 2015

Belgian-born designer Martin Margiela, a graduate from high-profile designer breeding ground The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, began his fashion house in 1989. Margiela’s designs have always been subversive and have twisted conventional notions of beauty and fashion, creating a divergent fashion language: Techniques of deconstruction, recycled materials, raw finishing and cutting that defied the human form boldly confronted the viewer with their explicitly challenging avant-garde agenda. With Margiela’s official departure in 2009 and a new, deliberately anonymous design team at the helm, Maison Martin Margiela continues to be a exacting abstract force in the world of contemporary fashion.

This season saw a more reserved appearance unveiled, rather than the challenging asymmetric forms of recent times—but as always with the Maison, there was a strong conceptual force underpinning the collection. In this season, the idea of adapting and reassembling older garments and constructing new and dynamic pieces was the primary rationale of the garments. The result was an emphasis on wearability and the creation of a soft, sleek and almost subtly androgynous aesthetic.

The collection used as its basis patterns from a variety of eras, carefully adapting them to subvert their original form. Nude colors paired with navy blue were dominant in the first half of the show, which saw men’s suits cunningly transformed into coats tied with ribbons at the waist. Floral patterns appeared sporadically as the show continued, adding softness to skirts and a brown leather knee-length coat. Slim, form-hugging silhouettes and long lines were characteristic of the dresses and skirts. The end result spoke to a desire to not necessarily challenge or shock the audience with bold devices, but to seduce them with a gentler wearable side of the Maison Martin Margiela universe.