Brussels, Belgium
The collection revisits a collective memory of Haute Couture. Disassembled and reassembled in strata of periods, iconic places and images, it is recomposed like an exquisite corpse. Relics that have been transformed in homage and archetypes with erased and re-coloured lines comprise a collection that blends makeshift clothing with a couture atelier’s exercise in perfection. What Couture usually conceals is revealed; samples and scraps of fabric are salvaged and re-embroidered to become ornamental. The clothing’s quest and the clothing itself are superimposed. Since its founding in 1988, Maison Martin Margiela has collected used – and sometimes new – clothes, accessories and objects from around the world.