Maison Margiela announces the launch of its collaboration with Pendleton. Presented as part of the Co-Ed 2023 Collection, the creative dialogue fuses the plaids of the American heritage weaver with the haute couture grammar of Creative Director John Galliano.

The proposal is expressed in outerwear, tailoring, dresses, rompers, denim pieces and shirting informed by the Southern Gothic themes of the collection: the heartland of the American West, the classics of American cinema, and the contemporary spirit of young punks with a conscience.Maison Margiela first collaborated with Pendleton for the 2022 Artisanal Collection.

Pendleton mirrors the principles of authenticity at the heart of Maison Margiela. Founded in Oregon in 1863, the company presides over two of the few remaining woolen mills in the United States and employs old-world looms and traditional methods of dyeing in the creation of its woven plaids. The collaboration focuses on three mid-century weaves handpicked by John Galliano from the Pendleton archives: a red buffalo pattern, a sunset plaid in pink andblue pastels, and a windowpane check in red, white and black. Appropriating the inappropriate, each piece stages a technical and material meeting between the humble and the refined.

Rendered in the colours of the Great Western Plains, the genderless wardrobe exercises the techniques developed for the Co-Ed 2023 Collection. Garments employ decortiqué – which cuts a garment to its structural core – in the creation of the Maison’s new Rorschach cutting: the subliminal subversion of one image into another. Here, cut-out motifs reminiscent of American Western yokes become pareidolic illusions evocative of familiar characters. The technique appears in blousons, chinos, prom trousers and a sweatshirt Rorschach-cut to reveal their Pendleton linings. A similar effect is conjured in denim trousers and jackets ripped to expose a plaid underpinning.

In a study of hand-me-downs and the gestures that imbue garments with life, the practice of dressing in haste is applied to classic Pendleton shirts hacked up and spontaneously fixed into rompers through the Maison’s new technique of rompage, their waist nipped with gestural nonchalant tucks. The silhouette is echoed in regimental Pendleton trousers cut into shorts. Employing the practice of freeze-framing, a Pendleton shirt spliced with a tulle dress captures the movement of party dresses known from mid-century photography.

A carcoat lined in the sunset plaid carries a magnified version of a 1930s Pendleton label across its shoulders, nodding at an exaggerated version of tailoring étiquettes. Similar labels appear in smaller dimensions on the backs of oversized, casually-fitted or hacked-off sleeveless Pendleton shirts. A Rorschach-cut caban crafted in the sunset

plaid materialises in the memory of an archival Pendleton jacket, blown up eight times and padded with neoprene and foam for a subconsciously childlike proportion.

ABOUT PENDLETON WOOLEN MILLS

Pendleton Woolen Mills is a heritage lifestyle brand and the leader in wool blankets, apparel and accessories. Weaving in Oregon since 1863 and located in Portland, Oregon, Pendleton weaves iconic designs in two of America’s remaining woolen mills located in Pendleton, Oregon and Washougal, Washington. With six generations of family ownership, Pendleton is focused on their “Warranted to Be a Pendleton” legacy, creating quality lifestyle products with timeless classic styling.

Maison Margiela x Pendleton products are available now in select Maison Margiela stores and on maisonmargiela.com