Martin Margiela likes to let his work speak for itself. The taciturn fashion designer famously never gave interviews while running his revolutionary fashion house, only interacting with the press through fax messages addressed from the collective. But since leaving the label in 2009 and starting life as an artist, he’s begun to open up.
The iconoclastic designer narrated a 2019 film, Martin Margiela: In His Own Words, admittedly without showing his face, and has occasionally sat for interviews in recent years. Now, in the lead-up to his first Japanese exhibition, the Martin Margiela allows another rare update.
Margiela is presenting an art exhibition at Kudan House, Tokyo, an almost century-old villa chosen because “the artist likes the contrast of presenting his contemporary artwork in an historic residence,” according to a release.
It’ll be the first Martin Margiela solo exhibition in Japan, opening April 11 (tickets are available now), and the designer-turned-artist provided some rare commentary on what to expect in the presentation, which is themed around anonymity.
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“Anonymity is essential to me in order to protect my privacy, vital for my creative freedom,” Martin Margiela wrote. “I still have the same interests and obsessions as I did during my time in fashion, but the human body is no longer my sole medium of expression.”
Although he’s moved beyond being a fashion designer, the way people dress still informs Martin Margiela’s artwork.
His debut exhibition was in Paris’ Galeries Lafayette department store and included dyed wigs, a callback to his Fall/Winter 2005 jackets made of discarded costume wigs. His 2024 twin shows in Brussels and Athens included shoes produced from washed-up flip-flops he’d found on beaches, a typically thrifty technique for Margiela, who pioneered the notion of creating readymade clothing from discarded objects.
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“I am an observer since forever and common objects and situations highly inspire me. Even if it is obvious today to use technical assistance of all sorts, I love to insist on showing the process of the hand-crafted wherever I can,” he continued. “I prefer to instill questions than to show answers.”
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