Maison Margiela Spring/Summer 2017 Couture Review

     Every season John Galliano for Maison Margiela just gets better and better as a collaboration. Galliano is a sheer genius no doubt, and the Marigela house codes of anonymity, deconstruction, and storytelling fit perfectly. This season, Galliano and the Margiela team explored the way a garment is constructed for their "Artisianal" collection, as well as the filters we put on clothes today. It all started with fabric manipulation; how the garments were pulled apart to create something new. These new creations were strapped together, warped, and buttoned in a modern way. The multiple types of fabrics were all jumbled together, dissarranged like patchwork with high contrasts. Strips of silk and wool were draped everywhere on the body and into the model's hair. As the collection progressed, intricate crystal detailing came woven in and red fabric was introduced. A few of these red looks seem to reference Galliano's first collection for Marigela only two years ago, the "Artisianal" Spring 2015 collection. These looks were mostly in tulle, with a reoccurring face motif. However these faces were morphed and edited in the same way Snapchat filters do. It is interesting to see a highly-regarded designer like Galliano to directly reference something that seems so silly, but it is surely a sign of our times and a token of our culture. The faces became more abstract, as fabric began to billow around the models like fog, until a beautiful face made of tulle by artist Benjamin Shine came out on a clinically white coat. For the finale, the doors at the end of the catwalk flew open, to reveal a massive black sphere of floating fabric, like a storm cloud, that cascaded over the audience when spun around. A cohesive and extraordinary collection done by an extraordinary collaboration. 

Photo Credit: VogueRunway.com