Margiela SS24: A Margiela Madness Under The Full Moon

John Galliano unleashed a collection brimming with eccentricity and disconcertment beneath the unnerving glint of the Wolf Moon for Margiela SS24. The haute couture designer swept the audience under the cloaked arch of Pont Alexandre III and transported them to the netherworld: a cabinet of curiosities of sorts. Like animals inert and starved over the dead winter, we were revived only to have our breath hitched in our throats. Through the lens of Brassai, Galliano murmured the secrets of 1920s Paris that festered in the darkness of the night eighty years on.

To witness a Galliano show is to forget time, truth, reality or sense. The man is a world-building virtuoso. The fever dream essence of Galliano’s work is what compels you of its genius. Everything created in Galliano’s universe is beyond reach and absent of permanence. It is theatre, literature, and culture; it is art living and breathing.

Life After La Belle Époque

Of course, Galliano’s team chose the house muse, Leon Dame, to open the show. He stuns the audience, sprinting into view. A stiff corset bound his bare torso, and his flat cap guided his Kubrick stare, which was foisted onto the audience. Then, he posed arm stretched longingly overhead and back arched against a street light. Its dim illumination could not compete with Leon’s glazed-over cheek bestowed by fairy godmother Pat McGrath. This was a key, show-stopping feature present on all the models – it has taken the internet by storm.

The models, or muses as Galliano calls them, were porcelain marionettes puppeteered by the designer. They channelled les grandes horizontales who once again found centre stage in the fashion world a century on. Iconic fashion hairstylist Duffy recreated the bouffant and pompadour with a Sweeney Todd twist – deranged and dishevelled. What is notably spectacular about Galliano’s shows is its theatricality. His muses were not simply models who descended the runway but living, breathing puppets with their own narratives. They interacted with each other and came alive through the set curated around them. Simultaneously, they served as fashion dolls in the 19th century, which exhibited garments for clients before they were made life-sized.

Margiela SS24

Bosoms, Corsets and Derriere

Contrary to the déshabillé recently seen in the fashion realm, the nudity in this collection is titillating and exciting. You are seduced by the historical, sultry charm of les demimondaines. These famed courtesans were heavily engaged with the elite and often welcomed with hungry eyes, but they forever remained as social outcasts. The merkin is quietly reintroduced to a modern audience by peeking through provocative tulle – all made and embroidered with human hair. Some of the garments reimagined the nude inspired by Fauvism, which used unnatural colours such as blues and purples. This undoubtedly contributed to the otherworldly ambience of the muses at Margiela SS24 for haute couture.

Models were cinched, wasp-waisted, and cloaked in sheer patterned fabric, attributed to the designer’s time at Dior. The silhouette that stole the show was whacky and cartoonish. It had puffy, exaggerated sleeves and a skirt accentuating the derriere that tapered toward the knees. Specifically, the one with a white bulbous jacket marred by cobwebs of black nylon that had everyone foaming at the mouth. Such clownish silhouettes were a distinct nod towards the historical commentary around the folly of fashion. Fashion gossip and ridicule are not a contemporary phenomenon! The 19th century was filled with satirical caricatures mocking the practicality of fashion trends, just like today.

Across looks 41 to 43, Galliano feeds us three different renditions of a blue and white vertically striped dress. American designer Claire McCardell inspired these dress designs. Its relaxed pleats and jersey-wrapped waist differentiate it from the original, which now sits passively in the Palais Galliera, a domestic garb and a servile reminder of the 50s. The pleating is exceptional, of course. And this was what Galliano was commemorating in the three looks whilst transforming the garment entirely.

Galliano’s Margiela SS24

I am thrusted back to 2014, recalling the confusion that was evident in the industry when it was announced that Galliano would become the creative director of Margiela. They were binary opposites, and this stumped the world. Nobody could foresee how Galliano would ever align with the vision of the Maison. However, the designer’s theatrics and thirst for individuality preserve the fashion house as creators of art, not clothing. The way Martin Margiela intended. Galliano’s work may be antithetical to Martin Margiela’s, but the tenet of the Maison is alive and well. He is the only couturier who could have done it.