Maison Martin Margiela (1988-1998)
The fashion industry in the 1980s was characterized by its many excesses – from the loudness of prints and the manic use of monograms to the rise of the supermodel and the cult of the designer. Luxury, exclusivity, and spectacle defined the decade. By the end of the 1980s, the Paris-based Belgian brand Maison Martin Margiela was founded by its eponymous designer together with Jenny Meirens. The brand not only challenged sartorial conventions through its garments but also disrupted the established format of collection presentations.
This research frames Maison Martin Margiela’s shows from its first decade, 1988 to 1998, as subversive, situated practices that became part of the urban fabric of Paris. During Paris Fashion Week, it was customary to present collections in the 1st arrondissement, typically within event spaces in or around the Louvre. Margiela broke with this convention by relocating the fashion show to peripheral neighbourhoods and marginal urban sites – such as an abandoned metro station, a terrain vague, or a Salvation Army store.
The format of these presentations deliberately departed from prevailing norms, drawing attention both to their settings and to the affects they produced. By using the shows from this period as case studies, this paper explores these ephemeral events as forms of performance that appear as site-specific interventions, reconfiguring our understanding of both fashion and space, and pointing to new ways of thinking about the intersections of dress, urban space, and everyday life.
Supervised by Dr. Robin Wilson. MA Architectural History, the Bartlett, UCL, 2025.