The parfum of a wardrobe is detected in its lingering scent: silhouettes and symbols distilled to their core. For the autumn of 2021, Maison Margiela introduces the Icons Collection, a new line of genderless wardrobe staples and formalwear founded in enduring codes developed for the house by Creative Director John Galliano. Captured in film by Olivier Dahan, it is now available in Maison Margiela stores worldwide.
The collection iconises garments and accessories infused with the spirit of permanence. Lasting impressions, which tie bonds of loyalty between a fashion house and its clientele, they embody quintessence: what makes us return to one dressmaker over and over again. Distinguished by its own brand identity, pieces in the collection carry red threading details, decortiqué boutonnières, trouser hooks, and five-hole buttons embroidered with the letter M. Signifiers, they convey a sense belonging to the discerning community that makes up the Maison’s clientele and shares its values.
The Icons Collection builds on the existing lines 4 and 14 in the numeric coding, which has historically structured Maison Margiela: wardrobes for women and men devoted to elevated classics. Through the creative pyramid, which defines the house’s approach to collections under the creative direction of John Galliano, Icons pieces are genderless proposals initially developed in the haute couture ateliers of the Artisanal Collection, industrialised for prêt-à-porter in the Co-Ed Collection, and selected, perfected and finally anchored in the Icons Collection. Permanently present in the Maison Margiela stores, these key pieces will be seasonally re-evaluated and refined. As new proposals evolve through the creative pyramid, further Icons will be added to the collection.
Garments and accessories featured in the Icons Collections embody the silhouettes and techniques entrenched in the genetics of Maison Margiela. The recently introduced idea of inverted snobbery – the act of transposing the placement of fine and humble materials – permeates the collection. Tailored coats adapt the house’s transformative caped sleeve cut and work-in-progress top stitching, while cuffs are imbued with the memory of their own form. Trench coats reveal their tattersall lining through the shadow play of pockets, and employ decortiqué – the house term for reducing a feature to its core structure through cutting – on collars, pockets and cuffs. A puffer coat evokes the capitonnage of the signature Glam Slam bag, itself a fixture in the Icons Collections. Bias cutting is exercised in a silk suit and a draped hammered silk evening dress, while notions of dressing in haste and ancestral hand-me-downs are present throughout.
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