Something is definitely afoot in fashion when you see Barbie pink, sky blue, burnt orange and lime green at Maison Margiela.
MM6 staged its spring show on a sidewalk painted white, with a pale yellow Milanese building as the backdrop, and a store-opening cocktail immediately following on nearby Via della Spiga, where the mainline Margiela store has been flipped into an MM6 location, some walls and fixtures composed of hardcover books painted black or white.
The colorful spring collection will pop on the racks with its weathered leather jackets, crisp camp shirts, and coats and dresses with a Sixties elan.
The design collective wished to convey “heightened normality” of the people you meet in your neighborhood, albeit with doses of deconstruction and humor, according to the show notes.
Illusion tulle gave the impression of sweaters and trench coats magically hovering despite not having shoulders or sleeves. Men’s pants and shirts in papery fabrics came hole punched here and there, while some women’s coats, dresses and tunics were modeled after garment bags.
Overall, the menswear was stronger, with something for gentlemen, rebels and beach bums.
This was a younger, friskier MM6 collection with a low-key retro allure in the thrift-shop palette, the satin fanny packs and the loafers transformed into kitten-heeled mules.
But if you remove the censor-bar sunglasses, an unmistakable signifier of the house, are these clothes Margiela enough?
