Next spring, MoMu is paying tribute to the visionary work Martin Margiela created during his tenure heading up the womenswear collections at iconic French design house Hermès. Displaying the anonymous iconoclast’s Hermès collections between 1997 to 2003 for the first time, the exhibition promises to explore the relationship between these designs and those for his eponymous label.
When Jean-Louis Dumas, then CEO of Hermés, appointed the Belgian designer as artistic director in October 1997, Margiela was already known and lauded as one of the most influential and avant-garde designers on the scene. Melding his taste for groundbreaking deconstruction with the timeless luxury long-since associated with Hermès, Margiela spent the next six years breathing life into the one of the most traditional brands in the world. A marked departure from its typical brightly colored palette and vibrant prints, Margiela’s sober, monochrome vision, paired with his innovative tailoring, brought the brand firmly into the present, making it accessible and desirable to the modern woman. Celebrating the work of a true genius, Margiela – The Hermès Years is not to be missed.
‘Margiela – The Hermès Years’ is showing from March 31, 2017 to August 27, 2017 at Antwerp’s MoMu.
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Text Tish Weinstock