(photo: H&M)
Now you might think, ‘Where does she get off?’ – after all, the collection was (and still is, but we’ll get to that) being sold at H&M, where disposable fashion trends flourish – but this is Maison Martin Margiela. True, a lot of people had problems with the extraordinarily high price tags attached to pieces on the onset of premiere sales but there was a catch that made it all make sense.
With another designer collaboration like the Marni for H&M collection, where designer Consuelo Castiglioni‘s pieces were designed specifically for the retailer, the Margiela collection is comprised of re-editions of past collections. Marni’s H&M collection, although great (I stood in line starting at 6am that morning), the prints, silhouettes + jewelry were how one could determine it was a Marni piece and not badly made I might add – but again, specifically made for the retailer. But for Margiela, you are owning a re-edition of an original piece for way below cost, like the adjusted motorcycle jacket, which originally retailed for about $3,000 in stores not too long ago but at H&M it initially sold for $250. Apparently, that ‘low price’ wasn’t enough as now you can buy the jacket for $129.
Since the merch didn’t move, H&M did the unthinkable and slashed Margiela’s prices dramatically including $250 leather shoes with lucite heels now selling for $99 and $50 tromp l’oeil bodysuits now down to $15. It just broke my heart to find Margiela items consorting with discounted H&M pieces that were selling for $15, $39 et al as if they were worthy to be in such company. I guess some people will never get fashion as an art form the way that Margiela approaches it, with a lot of wit + intellectually instinctive fun. Unlike most, some of us don’t always care to show off our curves and deliberately, look for different + interesting ways to delineate between our heads and our ass the way this collection brilliantly succeeded in achieving this goal.
For the women’s collection, there were dresses (good luck in finding one) that wore asymmetry as accessory, with lengthy draping on one side that cinched on the opposite shoulder, exposing a slim skirt underneath in red + blue; and There were those that had a slight thinly belted a-line skirt that was also sleeveless on one side while the other side had a long kimono-like sleeve that looked like you were holding the dress’s ‘train’ in black. The separates were just as great including oversized trousers, trousers with an attached short skirt in grey wool (still available), trousers made of the combining of two different trousers in men’s fabric (still available) and mirror ball leggings in black emblazoned with shiny silver rounded squares.
The men’s collection sold me on their outerwear with an inside out fake shearling coat and a trench coat made of two different types of trench sewn together. The high top sneakers were pretty sick but sold out faster than a blink. Then of course, were those inside out jeans which I tried on a lot to realize what I already knew – men aren’t built like me with hips and a butt, well at least not most anyway.
Overall, I hope we’re as lucky, many times over, to expect more designer collaborations of this caliber.