The overheard snippets of conversation; the jolly din of cutlery and clinking glasses; the odd mish-mash of people who all end up the same place for the same purpose: as quotidian as it may seem, the experience of sitting down in a bar or restaurant can often take on an almost cinematic tone, especially after having been deprived of it for so long. Gauging by the show they put on yesterday evening during Milan Fashion Week SS22, it’s evidently one of the things that the team over at MM6 Maison Margiela missed most over the long months of lockdown. In celebration of our collective return to our cities’ streets, restaurants and bars, they took to La Belle Aurore, an esteemed Milanese trattoria, to host an aperitivo on its surrounding streets.
While the collection itself may not have directly taken after the setting -- despite what a first glance at the primary coloured checks redolent of tablecloths might suggest -- it also leant into the idea of the surreal saturation of once-familiar experience as we discover them anew.
A giddy tipsiness seemed to inform the red and spruce green mylar checks printed directly onto écru denim jeans and skirts, subtly skewing with the movements and contours of the wearer, as well as intentionally warped prints seen on a version of last season’s gabardine coat, radically abbreviated to create a neat cropped jacket, the house’s iconic Japanese origami bag, and jersey-sleeved asymmetrical knits.
