“The everyday, elevated” read the themes section of MM6 Maison Margiela’s Pre-Fall press release. When employed by a less clever brand, the “highbrow essentials” schtick warrants an eye roll, but the collective behind MM6 has managed to elevate the art of elevation. Their trick is to infuse their suiting and knits with wit and humor, subverting wardrobe mainstays like the shirtdress with ingenious surprises like a halter top for a hem that allows for multiple ways to wear. That transformative spirit carried into other pieces too—a sweatshirt that becomes a backpack, for example—while another range imbued ladylike codes like small box pleats and ditzy florals with a new structure and a kitschy spirit. Somewhere in between the two poles was a series of zebra stripe knits and bold, fraying jacquards that added a bit of liveliness to MM6’s sometimes cool vision.
The pieces in this large collection that will likely warrant the most interest are the denim ones—jeans come with white paint stains and wide legs—and the hoodies with slashed sides and logo fronts. Calling it the Vetements effect would be incorrect—that Parisian collective has done an academic and thorough job mining the Margiela archive. It’s due time that MM6 gets in on the game. Let’s see if shoppers get the memo.
