Never having darkened the door of the Mayfair public house—“pub” in local parlance—called the Running Horse, it’s impossible to speak of how radically different it was for the MM6 presentation. But given that the Margiela team had gone and foiled the entire place in glossy mirrored silver, Andy Warhol Factory-style (reflecting the label’s almost entirely metallic collection), it’s a pretty safe bet the regulars wouldn’t have recognized the old place.
There’s nothing new in the house of Margiela claiming a space as their own and conducting a fashion presentation there—a particularly memorable one took place in a ratty Parisian café by the Seine, as I seem to recall—but there was something quite prescient in referencing Warhol in this London pub.
It’s not the first time this season we’ve seen an artistic backdrop speak to a troubled, perplexing reflection of our world today, but there was certainly something clever in the jarring display we saw here; the silveriness of the parkas, down jackets, vests, and slip dresses might have spoken of a nostalgic idea of the space-age future, but the cracked, fractured surfaces of the clothes suggested that the dreamy notion of where we might end up was just as broken.
With its neat and concise execution of a theme, this latest MM6 offering suggests it’s being pushed to make a more conceptual statement now that the label is being creatively renewed, what with John Galliano’s incredible couture and menswear debut of late. (MM6 is designed by an in-house team.)
That was certainly true of the collection’s 500-strong limited-edition tee, which will be decorated with Polaroid images of the collection taken before the presentation started. It’s positively Warholian in idea and in execution.
See the full collection HERE
Text by Mark Holgate