Margiela was obsessed with clothes: how they were constructed, what shape they took, and the ways in which they were sold. His focus was on garments, not the women on which they were shown, and for two consecutive seasons he made do without live models. Men in lab coats substituted for Spring; for Fall ’98, marionettes created by stylist Jane How took the stage. Among the most striking pieces in this collection, shown late at night at the Grande Arche de la Défense, were the plastic-wrapped looks with Margiela’s signature pagoda sleeve, plastic wrapping being an idea that came back around for Spring ’16 at Loewe.
