Glenn Martens revealed his first collection for Maison Margiela in July 2025. The couture show, a mix of metals and body illusions, marked a new era for the French luxury house. With each look, came a mask. Some were made of lace, others bronze or jewels. These masks, while covering the models, carried meaning deep within Margiela (p.s. they didn’t start with Martens).
Martin Came First
The creator of the house, Martin Margiela, showed his first collection in 1988. The show was presented for the Spring 1989 season and exuded a dark appeal. Models walked with messy up-dos and smudged makeup. The color palette was muted, focusing on red, black and cream.
The dim lighting of the room also added to the appeal. Everything in the show, from the set design to the pieces themselves, had an extended shadow. The darkness of the collection made Martin stand out, cementing him as a unique designer from the start.
The most notable feature of the collection was the masks. Sheer fabric covered a few of the models’ faces, stopping only to expose their necks. The hidden features of the models created an eerie feeling. One that disturbed critics but enticed fashion enthusiasts to want more.
One Mask, Many Iterations
Martin Margiela was the creative director of the house until 2009. After he resigned, there was no creative lead until 2014 when John Galliano took over. This left five years where a design team, unknown to the public, continued Martin’s legacy. The idea of an anonymous design team is not unheard of in the fashion world. If anything, the break added to Margiela’s mysterious appeal.
Above are two masks: one covered in red gems from the Artisanal A/W 2014 show, and one filled with metallic flowers from Fall Couture 2013. Both of these pieces were created by the anonymous group of artisans. Clearly, the level of detail in these requires expert-level skills.
Maison Margiela Artisanal 2025
In July 2025, Glenn Martens (also the creative director of Diesel) showed his vision for the iconic masks. A majority of them concealed the models’ faces, leaving no room for them to see out. These heavy coverings, made of gold and diamonds, recreated the anonymity from Martin’s first collection.
A few of the pieces revealed parts of the models’ features. These masks appeared like cellophane wrap or glass-blown figures. A stark contrast from the other pieces, the models appeared blurred as an illusion.
What are your thoughts on the masks? Let us know @VALLEYmag on Instagram!
I am constantly looking online for tips that can benefit me. Thank you!
I’ve been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never discovered any fascinating article like yours. It’s beautiful worth enough for me. In my view, if all site owners and bloggers made just right content as you probably did, the net can be much more useful than ever before.
I am really loving the theme/design of your weblog. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility issues? A few of my blog readers have complained about my site not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this issue?
The following time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to learn, however I really thought youd have something attention-grabbing to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about one thing that you may fix when you werent too busy searching for attention.
You are my breathing in, I possess few blogs and occasionally run out from brand :). “‘Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive.” by John Sheffield.
I have learn several excellent stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you set to create one of these excellent informative web site.
Good, I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your website. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs as well as related information ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, website theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Nice task.
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my web site so i came to “return the favor”.I am attempting to find things to improve my site!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!
I was recommended this web site by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my trouble. You are amazing! Thanks!
Thanks for every other informative blog. The place else may just I get that type of info written in such an ideal approach? I have a undertaking that I am just now running on, and I’ve been at the look out for such information.