MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA AUTUMN 2012 COUTURE

Despite the absence of Belgian designer Margiela from his namesake fashion house since Fall / Winter 2009, Maison Martin Margiela certainly had their finger on the avant-garde pulse with the Fall / Winter 2012 Couture collection.

The striking 15-look collection, described by the in-house design team as ‘Artisanal’, centred on one of Margiela’s passions. The collection focused on reclaiming vintage clothes and accessories and reworking them by hand into new, and sometimes unexpected, pieces.

Stark white, sleeveless cotton jackets were modelled on an early 1900s tailcoat and fastened with crystal doorknobs. There was a clear fixation with the top half of the body, with fine French lace trousers acting as a simple starting point for something far more interesting that was happening above the waistline.

Elsewhere, the Maison Martin Margiela couture collection saw a bolero and vest crafted from vintage baseball gloves and a bold coat made from a windsurfing sail. The collection had a surreal edge about it with models’ faces covered by extravagant fencing-style masks, encrusted with hundreds of crystals. While drama and face masks have made it as a staple on the Haute Couture runway this season, Maison Martin Margiela’s display may have just topped the bill.

At the show in Paris, Raf Simons, who started the week with his debut Couture collection for Dior, was seated in the front row, leading many to believe that Margiela himself would make an appearance. But Martin Margiela, much like the incognito models, didn’t show his face.

Maison Martin Margiela’s conceptual and eye-grabbing Couture display, no doubt created a buzz of excitement for the forthcoming unveiling of its collaborations with high street store H&M in November 2012.

- Ellen Stewart