The Mysterious Case of Martin Margiela
Martin Margiela has always been an elusive character in the fashion industry, spending much of his career avoiding interviews, photographs, and end-of-show bows.
Dubbed as “fashions invisible man,” the Belgian designer took all media inquires only through fax, conducted interviews only if the entire design team was present, and even had his correspondence signed with “we.” With only a handful of photographs in existence, Martin Margiela allowed his work to do the talking for him. Sticking true to his love of anonymity, Margiela typically featured models with long hair or fabric over their faces to sway the audiences attention to the deconstructive, conceptual avant-garde clothing. As a fashion designer that despised the fashion industry, Margiela explained his anonymity was to genuinely return the focus of fashion back to the clothing, and not the personas behind it.