Parodi Costume Collection is honored to present it latest exhibition, MARGIELA: IN THE VOID, a tribute to the legacy of Martin Margiela, in collaboration with contemporary vintage brand Byronesque. This unique exhibition features some of the major Margiela icons from the Parodi Costume Collection archives, whilst creating a narrative around what we refer to as the voids – the missing items that would otherwise make up full looks. Additionally, the voids represent important references to conceptual and artistic dimensions of Margiela’s work, which we are pleased to share with our audience. The journey of a museums acquisition of full vintage runway looks is a privileged one to witness. With a mission to spread awareness and participation of extraordinary creativity from fashion history, uniquely, Parodi Costume Collection visitors are invited to explore the stories and theories behind full looks as PCC expands its impressive archive. For the past years, Parodi Costume Collection (PCC) has been carefully adding to its archive key pieces of Martin Margiela’s seminal designs. Margiela’s work resonates deeply with PCC’s focus on critical thinking about fashion, and its mission to educate, by exploring the many visual and ethical dimensions of his work. These aims are attainable, in great part, through dialogues and collaborations with a community of worldwide professionals dedicated to Margiela’s legacy. PCC and Byronesque engaged Alexander Samson, and a group of contemporary-artists and designers, in a conversation that explores the personality and process of one of the most important meta-designers in the history of fashion. PCC is honored to present the product of this intercontinental exchange, MARGIELA: IN THE VOID, the first critical look on the work of Martin Margiela ever presented in the city of Miami. -Gonzalo Parodi, Director, Parodi Costume Collection Martin was famously absent. Our idea to focus on the voids taps into his personality as a designer and goes deep into the literal and metaphorical voids surrounding each piece. Museums are traditionally protective of their acquisitions, and with the exhibition previewing during Art Basel, it was an opportunity to be more abstract and conceptual, than simply presenting clothes on mannequins. The Parodi Costume Collection is extraordinarily progressive for a place dedicated to the past. We’re lucky to have their partnership to tell this different and unseen side of Martin Margiela. -Gill Linton, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Byronesque Artists and designers from around the world were invited to bring to life the void concepts within 13 of Martin Margiela’s iconic designs. The introductory text, written by Alexandre Samson, author of “Martin Margiela, the Women Collections” and curator at the Palais Galliera, the Fashion Museum of Paris, further explores some of the ways Martin filled creative voids in his work. Byronesque produced the exhibition didactics. A poetic tribute to Martin, co-written with Samson, is the poignant finale void of the exhibition. Margiela: In the Void features collaborations by Marta Meyerhans, in Art Direction, Max Guevara in Media, Jesus Pineda in Collection Management, Abigail Thielen in Education, and David Gary Lloyd in Photography.
THE VOID AS INDIVIDUAL: By stepping back from media, refusing interviews and portraits, Martin Margiela created a void in the history of fashion, which has always been obsessed with transforming designers into icons. His void challenged the status of the traditional designer. THE VOID AS A LABEL: Martin disliked when a garment was chosen for its label over its design. That's why he chose an empty white label attached with the now famous four corner stitches. THE VOID AS ANONYMOUS REPURPOSED GARMENTS: There was no ecological motive or process behind his Artisanal line. It began because the price of existing garments was substantially cheaper than brand new fabrics, with unlimited supply. And because Martin, as a fan of the 70s, loved vintage clothes. THE VOID AS HONESTY: He was very transparent about his working process. For the Artisanal line, he identified all the salvaged clothes used to make each garment. He kept the soul, and symbolism of the original clothes alive. THE VOID AS ART: When Martin started school at the Antwerp Academy in Belgium, his teachers advised him to change fashion for art studies. But he believed that his artistic ideas should live through clothes. He was aware that his process was original and singular. THE VOID AS REPETITION: Martin's strength was his consistency. He was not afraid to push and repeat his ideas as far as they could go, pushing them to their very limits of unexpected creativity. He wanted to make sure that people understood every dimension of his designs. THE VOID AS CONSTRAINT: Martin loves to play with constraints. He teaches us this lesson: each constraint makes you even more creative, a call for higher creativity and more originality. THE VOID AS RENEWAL: Although Martin disliked the 1980s in his early days in fashion, the design codes of the decade made a huge comeback in his 2007 collection, including high heel shoes and oversized shoulders. He embraced the details he didn't like because he felt that he needed to renew himself.
“He loves the flea markets. He bought racks of jeans for a few Francs each.
Sometimes walking the streets just to observe every single thing around him. To see
inspiring details, like a 20th century Surrealist flaneur. He had to care so much
about anonymity, to keep his strolls in the street of Paris without interruption.
He thinks it rare to have genuine and new ideas. When you have those ideas, you
have to cherish them. To dig deep into these ideas with commitment. And to go to
the very end. Models masked, eyes hidden with hair and paint. Redacted with a pen.
A black bar. The master and the muse removed to honor the collection. Until,
ultimately, it became the collection.”
A poetic Tribute to Martin Margiela’s anonymity, co-written by MARGIELA:IN THE VOID partners, Byronesque and Alexandre Samson, author of “Martin Margiela, the Women Collections,” and curator at the Palais Galliera, the Fashion Museum of Paris