Remembering Margiela's Hermès

With Martin Margiela’s 63rd Birthday yesterday and the highly anticipated Margiela documentary “Martin Margiela: In His Own Words” seeing a global release this month, I wanted to take a moment to reflect upon a preeminent, yet seldom talked about, era of his career: The Hermès years. And yes, I am aware this is a menswear-focused site but there are some things in this world which transcend gender - this is one of them.

There may not be another designer in history whose legacy is as pervasive as Martin Margiela’s. Replicated and referenced time and time again, Margiela’s designs are a fixation that the fashion industry cannot seem to shake. The iconoclastic designer was a non-conformist, he was someone who challenged the codes of fashion and the industry as a whole. Unlike much of the industry during the 90’s, Margiela was elusive, rarely photographed and only communicated with the press via fax. Margiela believed wholly in anonymity, making the spotlight of his career shine solely on his clothes, rather than himself.

Margiela’s ethos seemed worlds away from the large and established fashion houses at the time, such as Hermès, though in 1997 Margiela was appointed creative director of Womenswear at the storied house. This appointment caused ripples in the fashion industry as many did not understand the appointment, but after seeing the clothes it was understood, a shared point of view.

Margiela’s design language at the French luxury goods brand strayed from the forward-leaning work he was creating at his own namesake brand. With the finest materials and craftsmanship at his fingertips, he took a deconstructive approach to the garments. Margiela was creating adaptable clothing, clothing built to last, a “forever wardrobe.” The key values that underlined Margiela’s work at Hermès were ease, comfort, quality, and time. A coat with a removable collar and closures, a seamless sweater than could be worn inside out, a bag with a strap that could be wrapped around the hand, a subversive presentation of garments that challenged the rampant consumption the industry relied (and still relies) on.

At Hermès, Margiela did not design clothes for the models who would be wearing them on the runway, he designed clothes for the women that would be wearing them everyday. Because of this, his collection at Hermès were often partially overlooked as people at the time did not grasp the concept entirely, but soon became understood, praised, and lusted after. “Martin is invisible - but it is like oxygen, invisible but vital. It is a new shoot in a branch that has already been growing for half a century. Martin is not a cuckoo bird nesting in the leaves of Hermès. On the contrary, he brings a new vision to what we are.”

In 2017, Antwerp’s MoMu curator, Kaat Debo, who saw the beauty and timelessness of his Hermès collections, headed the “Margiela: The Hermès Years” exhibit. She soon found a challenge in sourcing garments from private collectors for the exhibit. “I think the reason is that a lot of women are still wearing [them],” explained Debo. “When we borrowed objects from private lenders, some women were really hesitating to give the pieces. All of them said, ‘We’re still wearing these pieces,’ which to me [demonstrated that] the concept really works how Martin envisioned it. It’s true that you can [wear his pieces for Hermès] for 15 or 20 years. And that’s amazing.”

Looking back at his collections for Hermès, nothing looks dated, nothing out of sync, each garment possessing a fluidity of time. “I think the older you get the more you understand – man or woman – what suits him and her and makes them happy to wear. This is something that comes with age. You want it to last. Before, I would never buy three colours or three shades of the same sweater - but today I will!” - Martin Margiela

Margiela’s Hermès taught the world that you don’t need to have a lot of clothes, just the right ones.