For Spring/Summer 2027, Maison Margiela’s Glenn Martens and the atelier he leads built the collection around the friction between two seemingly opposing qualities – hardness and softness.
The tension became palpable from the very moment of entering the show space in the 18th arrondissement, where Belgian floral artist Mark Colle built a landscape altered by time – bouquets were slowly rotting in their plastic packaging, singular stems were coming out of stacked paper boxes, and piles of flowers were gathering in corners of the room.
Their vivid forms return across the collection as floral prints, preserved in a state of permanent bloom. Short dresses matched their vibrant patterns with the lining of the coats worn on top (or were they a single conjoined piece altogether?), and draped gowns substituted obvious glamour with a melancholic quality thanks to their faded palette.
Hardened darts turn soft crewneck dresses into sculptural forms; reinforced skirts are softened with strips of humble cotton; and corsetry is pushed open to send swathes of fabric cascading from chest to ankle. Trench coats are reworked with jutting panels, tailoring folds in on itself with its lapels or hidden buttons, and dresses that should fall freely are reinforced and pulled into place. The result is a wardrobe oscillating between construction and collapse. Perhaps the most explicit exploration of that dichotomy comes in the form of a white sleeveless floor-length gown, on which an armour of flattened silverware is moulded to the body.
The accessories equally refuse to play by the rules. Briefcases, weekend bags and vanity cases are stripped of their usual rigidity and rendered in soft leather, while suede bags are waxed and designed to age. It is a staple Margiela play: take something we think we know, pull it apart and put it back together slightly awkwardly. This season, set to the soundtrack of Hole’s angry anthem Violet, the Maison simply makes the contrast more literal — giving hardness a softer side, and softness a little more bite.
Words by Martin Onufrowicz
