Many of the most buzzed-about brands in fashion right now got where they are by knocking off the work of Martin Margiela. Nobody knows that better than the anonymous team of designers behind MM6, who have spent the better part of the past four seasons working to reclaim Margiela’s heritage. They’ve remade the vareuse, they’ve crafted lab coats in chemical-spill green velvet, and they’ve put transparent PVC front and center. But something was off in their Pre-Fall equation. The color palette, all dusty beiges and flecked grays, read a little drab. The collection’s oversize and boxy silhouettes didn’t help brighten the mood. Sometimes the big and beigey thing worked, like in a Blade Runner-esque trench, but on the whole, the collection lacked vibrancy.
What’s more is that the styling and presentation of the collection hinted at the ways other designers are plumbing Margiela’s archive for brilliant ideas. The nude turtleneck with a logo stamped on the chest worn with a metallic leather skirt and white boots will seem familiar to millennials because they’ve seen almost the exact same outfit in Off-White’s Fall 2016 lineup. Should millennials know that Virgil Abloh’s hi-low mash-ups are an homage to Margiela? In an age when that information is more accessible than ever, sure, they should. But many don’t.
Educating the kids can be a daunting task, but there is an exciting—and financially viable—way to do it. Namely by reissuing Margiela the man’s originals, the way other brands have begun to do (see Versace Spring 2018 and Helmut Lang’s Re-Edition collection). MM6 touched on this idea for Pre-Fall by resurrecting a series of pieces from Line 14, but instead of direct replicas, they were all made in black fabric and each contained a little modern flourish. With interest in Margiela’s ideas reaching a fever pitch, the time is right for the brand to give the people what they want: real Margiela, right now.
