For Glenn Martens much anticipated first collection at Maison Margiela this week he turned the drama all the way up. With big shoes to fill after John Galliano’s last swiftly canonized Spring 2024 performance, the venue quickly set the tone with its palatial collage of papier-mâché covered rooms, a nod towards the antique and the deconstructed codes of the house.
But Martens traded the house’s signature deconstruction for something more monumental—and somewhat medieval for the Artisanal off-calendar collection. Set to Smashing Pumpkins (with Billy Corgan in attendance to bare witness) the collection drew deep from the Gothic towers, saints, and still life’s of Northern Europe, reimagined through Martens’ lens of weird, warped glamour.
The collection got off to a haunting start with a plastic dress worn under a plastic corset with hands muffled inside continued into look 5, a raincoat looking plastic almost preserving a fine canvas maxi dress with a trompe l’oeil hand painted finish mimicked stained glass, while look 15, an cracked antique tapestries recalled the show invitation. The collection felt a tad dark and almost scary in vibe with every single ultra-thin model enveloped by a mask, a deliberate recalling of Martin Margiela’s inaugural Spring 1989 collection. At first they were clear plastic lined with matching draped fabric, then more elaborately encrusted with jewels, a continuation of the hand painted brush stroked dresses, and peeling steampunk leather patchwork jackets, both Margiela anonymity-coded and plague-adjacent.
Repurposed leather, crushed metal, and torn and cracked antique linings grounded the collection which stayed anchored in a kind of distorted macabre. An eerie hand with red painted finger nails poked through a slit in a tailored black wool jacket almost holding it closed, protection from a brisk gust of fall air.
Look 22 shifted towards the feminine with a long 17th-century Dutch nature print (a nod Gustave Moreau) stretch-crêpe dress layered with ecru tulle bird wings which fluttered as the model walked. Look 37-39 brought a welcomed dose of romance with floor-length sheer jersey tightly corseted at the waist with a deadstock ruby and diamond costume jewellery collar. Still masked the models seemed as though they were about to break out of their masks. Fading into fluttery lace and tulle maxi gowns constructed with corsets at the waist and faded floral recycled polyester sleeves for added lightness.
Final moments of the collection were draped in fluttered silk charmeuse draped to mimicking the rib cage in black, burgundy printed cravat, and faded 17th-century floral paintings before a final floor length look in a shocking fluo green punctuated the end of the show, banishing any feelings of uncertainty for Martens future at the brand.
In Martens’ hands, history wasn’t reenacted—it was distorted, glamorized, and stitched back together with apocalyptic precision.
Discover the full looks below.
