Martin Margiela: In His Own Words

A decade after Martin Margiela presented his final collection in 2008, the notoriously elusive fashion designer finally speaks about his career, reflecting on his formative influences and the concepts behind his groundbreaking collections. His thoughtful account combined with admiring commentary from fashion industry experts results in a thoroughly engaging chronicle of the designer’s work, from his first Surrealist-inspired show—for which Margiela obscured the faces of his models with fitted veils—to subsequent collections that integrated or transformed everyday materials like plastic bags, packing tape, and secondhand clothing into highly original garments, and to his work with the luxury brand Hermès. Respecting Margiela’s insistence on anonymity, director Reiner Holzemer never shows his face, enhancing the presence and intimacy of the designer’s voice. Holzemer says of the restriction, “I very quickly stopped missing his face in the frame of the camera. His hands, his movements, the admiration he has for handcraft and, most of all, the love he puts in all his creations make us feel his presence at any moment.”