Maison Martin Margiela through its MM6 diffusion line has reissued items from its much-admired spring 2006 “fragile” collection with a capsule that includes a t-shirt, backpack, pouch, satchel, boots and sneakers (almost sold out!). While first shown over ten years ago, the look of the pieces very much speaks to of-the-moment trends favoring all-over-logo, street-inspired designs.
John Galliano, who oversees creative direction of Maison Martin Margiela (an anonymous team designs MM6), recently took part in Vogue Forces of Fashion conference and spoke to André Leon Talley about meeting the elusive Martin Margiela. “The last time we met he said, ‘You may not see me ever again.’ [That was] just before I joined Maison Margiela,” explained Galliano in the exchange.
“I mean, we write each other emails. He’s very anonymous. I did invite him to my house for tea. Well, he wanted to meet, and so we met. It was the most amazing, amazing experience ever. He remembered me and he said we’d hung out in clubs and stuff in London, but I have no recollection. I was not that conscious then.
“He was the assistant to Jean-Paul [Gaultier] at the time, so there is truth in it. Anyway, I invited him round to Number 5 and we had tea. I had so many questions to ask him, but I didn’t have to ask, it just poured out. Everything that you would want to know, anything that you. . . you just couldn’t find in a book—I mean, I can’t expose too much, because some of it was very personal, but he told me about his love of 17th-century French literature, 18th-century costume. Are these things you know about Martin? Because I certainly didn’t. So we had a great time. It was tea; it started at 4:00 p.m. and I think he left about 10:00 p.m. It was just amazing. He said, ‘Take what you will from the DNA of the house, protect yourself, and make it your own.’ A gentleman.”
The Fragile accessories are now available at maisonmargiela.com and farfetch.com
