Maison Martin Margiela 20: the exhibition

2008’s Maison Martin Margiela 20 exhibition at Antwerp’s Mode Museum garnered column inches aplenty with every major fashion, culture and design journal eager to celebrate the 20th anniversary of an enigmatic designer whose work has gone on to influence a legion of late 20th, early 21st century fashion designers and design thinkers. Now, the travelling exhibition has stopped off in London’s newest visual arts destination, Somerset House.

The exhibition design is elemental in communicating the Margiela vision – picking up on the visual codes of the designers work and translating into the exhibition space. Signature white and silver set the scene whilst special trompe l’oeil wall coverings allude to the trick-of-the-eye effects played with in the clothes, retail stores and headquarter offices. Each exhibition features large-scale decals of the space it is housed in.

The curation itself is a feast of video footage, artefacts and clothing. Highlights of the exhibition include; a line-up of the designer’s iconic two-toed Tabi shoes; a display of the defining narrow shouldered tailored jacket which sought to rebel against the eighties oversized power shoulder; video footage of the 2009 birthday show; a host of garments brushstroked in white paint; a large space dedicated to his trompe l’oeil photoprints; items from the Artisinal line with details of the hours spent making the garments and a birthday room compiled of photos, film footage and images.

One of the unique aspects of the Margiela brand is his explicit relinquishing of the ‘crass’ cult of celebrity. Choosing to remain anonymous throughout the duration of his career, always referring to his work as ‘the Maison’s’ work - Margiela has let the clothes do the talking. Technically, the notion of ‘brand’ is shunned via the use of blank white labels and each line signified by a circled, arbitrary number.

We left feeling totally inspired by a designer who has truly innovated. Whilst he may be no longer designing for his own house, if the subsequent runway collections are anything to go by we’ve got a lot more exciting things to expect from the Maison…

Until 5th September