Martin Margiela

A breathtaking survey of 20 years of fashion designs by Martin Margiela.

Timed to coincide with a major exhibition, this volume revisits the years during which celebrated designer Martin Margiela achieved the status of one of the most important designers at work today. One of the Antwerp group of six who changed the face of contemporary fashion, Margiela created 41 runway shows between 1989 and 2009 that promoted a unique vision of understated luxury—monochromes, oversize volumes, and his signature constructed-deconstructed cuts—whose credo is comfort, timelessness, sensuality, and authenticity.

Famously reclusive, Margiela never showed his face even at his own shows so that the work could stand purely on its own, free from any link to celebrity or self-promotion. This volume chronicles these amazing fashion shows in careful detail: the extraordinary spaces, the music, the designer's intentions, and the iconic pieces. Over the years, recurring motifs and inspirations become more apparent, including anonymity, whiteness, past and anteriority, and diversion. The book reveals the sensitive, poetic, and incredibly innovative universe of this most influential contemporary fashion designer.