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Martin Margiela (born 9 April 1957) is a Belgian fashion designer, artist, and founder of the French Luxury goods fashion house Maison Margiela. Throughout his career, Margiela has maintained a low profile, refusing to grant face-to-face interviews or be photographed. Since leaving fashion in 2008, he has emerged as an artist, exploring the themes that made him an iconic figure in fashion. He is considered to be one of the most influential fashion designers in recent history for his iconic deconstructed, upcycled aesthetic and oversized silhouette.Granata F. Deconstruction and the Grotesque: Martin Margiela / Experimental Fashion: Performance Art, Carnival and the Grotesque Body. London — New York, I.B.Tauris: 2017. p. 74 — 102.
He went on to study fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) and graduated in 1979, a year before the avant-garde fashion collective the Antwerp Six.
Margiela presented the Spring/Summer 1990 collection in the first show for his eponymous label in the fall of 1989 on a derelict playground in a North African neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris. It was an unusual show with an uneven runway and intentionally stumbling models, which created a public spectacle that shocked the industry. As opposed to the popular themes of extravagance, bold colors, and wide shoulders at the time, his collection included ripped sleeves, frayed hems, and clumpy shoes. To show respect for the community, local kids were also asked to hand draw invitations in art classes at school and were seated in the front row during the show. Maison Martin Margiela's ultra-discreet trademark consists of a piece of cloth with the numbers 0-23. The badge is attached to the inside with four small, white tack stitches, exposed to the outside on unlined garments.
In stark contrast to most of his peers, he has always remained backstage and does not take a bow after his shows. Since 1988, he has never agreed to a formal interview or been photographed for any magazine. All media contacts were conducted via fax and later email. The idea was to emphasize that his designs should speak for themselves and they are the product of a collaborative team rather than his own.
Maison Margiela was acquired by the OTB Group in 2002. Margiela remained as creative director, but "had not been involved in recent collections" according to Renzo Rosso, the CEO of OTB Group, in 2008. He had privately expressed his desire to stop designing and begun a search for his successor. His close associates speculated that he wanted to "enjoy his life outside the insistent glare of the fashion world." In early 2008, he approached Raf Simons, the creative director of Jil Sander, and offered to hand the reins of Maison Margiela to him, but Simons appeared to have declined the offer and instead renewed a three-year contract with Jil Sander.
In December 2009, Margiela formally left his eponymous label. No successor was named and the house continued to be operated by a team of designers until John Galliano was appointed as creative director in 2014.
In 2003, Margiela stepped down from his role at Hermes to focus on his own label and was succeeded by his former mentor, Jean Paul Gaultier.
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