Hard Meets Soft: Maison Margiela Rethinks Tailoring and Draping

For its new ready-to-wear collection, the house draws on two disciplines of Parisian couture and sets them against each other.

In the Parisian ateliers, two crafts work side by side that could hardly be more different. Tailoring builds structured, firm garments. Flou is the art of the dress that falls and flows. Maison Margiela takes this divide as its starting point and asks what happens when hardness enters garments that were always soft, and softness enters those that were always structured. It fits the house’s stated mission of rereading fashion’s history and the systems behind it, again and again.

Photo: Isidore Montag / Gorunway.com

Flowers That Have Aged

The set was designed by the Belgian floral artist Mark Colle. It pays homage to a couture debut from 2012 by fellow Belgian designer Raf Simons, as if time had worked on the flowers. That echoes the house’s long-running interest in replication. The same flowers return as prints throughout the collection, captured in a state of permanent, vivid life.

Structure for the Familiar

The theme is clearest in the archetypes. The trench coat gains broad, hardened panels, running either horizontally at the waist or vertically down both sides of the body, which changes how we see it. Tailored jackets and waistcoats are turned in on themselves, folded to hide the buttoning. The creases are fortified inside, so the new fold lines stay even when the piece is unfolded and buttoned normally.

The dresses follow the same logic. On draped dresses and tops, a panel curves outward at the chest like a balcony, suggesting a corset without constriction, with a tie at the back to hold it all in place. Sleeveless crewneck dresses have huge darts down the front, slashed at the waist. Fortified, they become sculptural forms on otherwise soft dresses. Other deeply draped dresses have corsetry that seems to have burst open at the front, and this hardened form produces a cowl that curves from the chest down to the ankle.

One contrast recurs. Elongated wrap skirts in elaborate materials are fortified, then trimmed at the waist with humble cotton. Some dresses are cut with a contrasting panel of soft cotton at the waist, giving the impression of separates.

Linings, Net, Silverware

Linings have always been a story at Maison Margiela, and here they take a leading role. They appear as garments in their own right and as fabric worked into other pieces. Coat linings are attached to floral-print dresses that have been cut open at the back and fully extended. The result looks like a coat worn over a dress, with the print always fortified so that it stands hard against the soft lining.

Soft net is worn over new second-skin knits, or integrated into the second skin itself. For ultimate hardness, silverware is flattened and then moulded into a body. There are also moments of pure softness: draped crewneck dresses printed with spray-painted cranes and eagles. At the end, open-backed dresses are turned back to front and re-draped, with second skins underneath, so the now-open front can be worn with strength.

Photo: Isidore Montag / Gorunway.com

Photo: Isidore Montag / Gorunway.com

Bags, Shoes, Jewellery

The play continues in the accessories.

Bags: The 5AC Soft returns in supple, natural-feeling leather, with the same super-soft leather at the opening. As with the whole 5AC family, it is as if the inner lining had been pulled out and zippered to form the opening. The new Ghost bags take archetypal styles such as briefcases, weekenders and vanity cases and remove their hard structures entirely, making them completely soft in leather. Authentic metal hardware, like lock panels, is kept from the originals. The Link bag comes in the softest suede, including pleated suede that has been waxed to age beautifully, while the Glam Slam appears in the collection’s floral prints. Clutches look like jewellery boxes, or like a chatelaine’s purse worn on a ring, and some are modular and slot together. The Marché bag is woven from leather cord that resembles party string.

Shoes: New heel-less open-toe boots and pumps have a high hidden heel and a slight visible kitten heel. The knee-high boots are built like a tube running up the leg, in black leather or the collection’s ruched materials. For men, there are lighter heel-less soft loafers, lace-ups and boxer boots in softer leather, with a slight pie-crust detail at the toe and a sole split between toe and heel. The new Slide heel comes in mules with a curved toe and a curved sole that contrasts with the rectangular heel, the foot held by vegetal leather or strips of colourful leather that look like party string. Tabi Heel Clogs bring back an archival style in ruched materials, joined by Tabi boots and Tabi ballerinas.

Jewellery: Chain necklaces and bracelets are encased in mesh or made from tubular leather. Earrings look like crystal caught in a net, or like a four-stitch rectangle filled with glitter.

The collection relies less on effect than on construction, turning the inside of clothing out.

MM_SS27_FITTINGS