Maison Margiela Artisanal 2024: John Galliano closes Haute Couture Week in triumphant fashion

Intrigued by Brassaï’s voyeuristic Parisian portrait, Galliano takes us on a stroll through the most hidden places of Paris in the 1920s.

Paris Haute Couture Week came to a close with an exceptional golden brooch thanks to the long-awaited return of Maison Margiela Artisanal to the catwalks. Since the end of 2022, the French firm remained silent, but its return under the masterful direction of John Galliano has proven to be a true rebirth of Haute Couture, reminding us of the true essence and purpose of this art. For such is Galliano’s work, a breath of fresh air in a world where monotony threatens to prevail; the Gibraltarian has shown that fashion can be exciting, provocative and truly transformative.

Maison Margiela, defiant and more Galliano than ever, took us on a walk through the secret underbelly of Paris, inspired by Brassaï’s voyeuristic portraiture of the 1920s and 1930s. The runway show breathed Belle Époque, but a darker, hidden facet of the French capital’s quintessential golden age.

The collection, meticulously crafted over a year, came to life on a stage under the Pont d’Alexandre III and Café Mouche, transporting us to a Paris where nocturnal characters of dubious reputation roam its streets. Dark and disturbing characters but, nevertheless, tricksters. Lovers, dolls, gangsters, fugitives from fights, half-dressed men and women after sexual encounters, clutching their moon-bleached coats or disheveled knitted jackets, congregate from the riverbank to the club before our eyes. They all intertwine in a surreal, almost zombie-like dance.

The makeup -created by Pat Mcgrath- recreated porcelain dolls; the hourglass silhouette, marked by exaggeratedly defined waists through nineteenth-century corsets, stood as a leitmotiv throughout the proposal; the nudity of the half-dressed models explicitly shows the female pubic hair. The chest is completely uncovered, only covered by a thin transparent fabric made of chiffon and organza, or even latex.

John Galliano, with his trademark melodrama, has put the icing on the cake of a haute couture week, reminding the industry of the magnitude that it was accustomed to in the early 2000s with his runway shows. The fusion of theatricality, emotion and the courage to remain true to his codes, highlights his ability to reinvent and defy expectations, maintaining his throne as a visionary master and agitator of contemporary fashion. Galliano leaves us in awe and eager to see the next chapter of Maison Margiela with a show that will undoubtedly go down in history.