The Maison Margiela Recital: Maison Margiela's SS26 Show

From WWD

Do you remember the hype of music recitals from childhood? The nervous excitment caused by anticipation to perform in front of your family? Well, Margiela went ultra nostalgic and put on their own recital to debut their SS 26 collection for Paris Fashion Week. While the showmanship was timeless, the collection as a whole wasn't as tantalizing in comparison to past works.

Dozer is always going to applaud interdisciplinary creative output. So, even if the collection wasn't as avante garde as we're used to, the setting definetly made up for it. The show featured an orchestra of children wearing oversized tuxedos and playing classical music pieces in a terrible fashion. Everything was off key and unstructured, you know, authentic. Their presence mixed with the mouth pieces models wore to keep their mouth ajar further solidified the vision. This collection makes for Margiela's first ready-to-wear for new creative director Glenn Martens. I'm chosing to see the symbolism in the recital angle as him getting his feet underneath him as he only took over the role this January.

From WWD

The show concept was immersive and at times daunting, but unique enough to carry the burden of an otherwise plain collection for Margiela's standards. Most of this collection feels like fluff before a larger showing in February. Everything is solid but nothing makes your eyes widen like past collections where there were more than a few show stoppers. That simply doesn't exist here. This collection is devoid of a "moment." We're used to seeing Margiela have some edge to it. However, Glenn seems to trade playful color exploration for straight forward, bold colors. The bulk of the collection is monotone, the lively pieces aren't featured until the tail end of the show.

From WWD

Calling this collection uninspired would be a lie, because I truly feel the theme of the show was so well thought out. However, the actual pieces themselves left too much to be desired. True to form, the underwhelming performance of a recital is softened by the blow of expectation.