10 November 2014

MARGIELA VS GALLIANO

                            IMGL0194-Edit © Ronald Stoops Maison-Martin-Margiela-for-HM-12 56587971

If you haven't heard, John Galliano has taken over the creative directing position at Maison Martin Margiela. Hmm, I'm not quite sure how to feel when I heard about this. What I felt was two split personalities; or a man and woman in a relationship with completely different personalities, something along those line, if you get what I mean.

Well, after Maison Martin himself stepped down from his brand, things did change quite a bit. Within months, MMM has collaborated with several mainstream brands like H&M, G-shock, Swarovski, Converse, Moleskine, etc. Known for being a low profile brand that targets a niche group of people, MMM has also gone social on Instagram. I must say being able to "follow" the brand on social media platform has allowed me to keep myself updated with the brand's happenings, but is that what Maison Martin has intended his brand to be? Is the brand still staying true to what it started with?

While Galliano who seems to enjoy being in the superstar designer limelight, is expert in extravagant detailed, dramatic and theatrical fashion – we can justify this during his time at Christian Dior (and by the way, I honestly prefer Raf Simon's clean and straight forward designs for Dior). On the other hand, Maison Martin Margiela never appears on stage at the end of his shows, doesn't do face to face interviews, he kept himself anonymous so that his creations becomes the limelight instead of himself. Probably no one, except for those in his team, knows how the man resembles.

Most of Margiela's followers would feel skpetical about Galliano taking over the brand, including myself. But having said all these, I must say that Galliano has had a rich experience in the industry. Perhaps he comprehends the brand story and codes of MMM, and would deliver designs that will reflect Maison Martin's vision? For now, I can only say this much. Until then, I'm just anticipating for MMM's upcoming artisanal and RTW collections come 2015.



image credits: 01 / 02 / 03

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