When H&M launched its Maison Martin Margiela collaboration in 2013, a photoprint sequin dress inspired by one found in the designer’s spring 1996 collection was part of the mix. Trompe l’oeil was central among Margiela’s witty signatures, one reason amid many that fashion insiders mourned his departure from his own label in 2009. The others: his killer tailoring, sometimes with giant shoulder pads, sometimes without; the provocative, almost perverse nude bodysuits; the toe cleavage Tabi boots; the deconstructed lingerie bits. Margiela famously refused to do interviews. He didn’t need to—his clothes telegraphed an intelligence that was uniquely his own.
