Artipelag is showcasing the groundbreaking collaboration between Hermès and Martin Margiela

Artipelag is devoting its autumn and winter season to a retrospective of one of the most remarkable collaborations in fashion: when cutting-edge Belgian designer Martin Margiela teamed up with Hermès, a Parisian house with a time-honoured heritage.

Between 1997 and 2003, Martin Margiela was appointed by Jean-Louis Dumas, the CEO of Hermès at the time, as artistic director of the Parisian house women’s ready-to-wear collections. This collaboration turned out to be one of the most exciting in fashion history, and it is now presented in the exhibition Margiela, The Hermès Years.

Martin Margiela launched his own fashion house, Maison Martin Margiela, in 1988, and the enigmatic and inscrutable designer soon revealed himself to be the antithesis of superstar designers. Margiela’s deconstruction of traditional fashion concepts in favour of a more artistic approach has established a reputation as one of the most avant-garde faces of the fashion industry. Hermès, on the other hand, was founded in 1837. Comfort, timelessness, sensuality and authenticity are the key words which define his vision of the Hermès woman.

On the surface, one could imagine that a collaboration between Margiela and Hermès would be surprising, but Margiela proved to be a masterful interpreter of the Hermès DNA. In stark contrast to the fashion world’s fixation on eternal youth, his point of departure was the natural, self-confident woman. Margiela dressed women in genuine materials and employed the classic art of tailoring to articulate the architecture of the individual styles. The result was a remarkable fusion of the Margiela’s iconoclasm and Hermès’ timeless quality.

Margiela, The Hermès Years was originally curated by Kaat Debo and Martin Margiela, for the MoMu (Fashion Museum Antwerp) in 2017. Creations from Martin Margiela’s own label and his designs for Hermès are juxtaposed as two different translations of the same vision. The display features a succession of themed sequences with over 100 outfits, photographs and short films in a circuit in which Hermès orange interacts with the white of the Maison Martin Margiela. This helps visitors to understand the creative process that navigates seamlessly between the two houses and their identities.

The exhibition will be on display at Artipelag from October 26^th 2018 to April 28^th 2019.

Press images can be found here >>

Gustav Idhammar, gustav.idhammar@artipelag.se, tel +46 (0)70-710 53 55

About Artipelag
Artipelag is a world-class meeting place where art shows, cultural activities, architecture, music, events, Swedish design, and good food are presented alongside the beautiful Stockholm Archipelago. Artipelag is located at Hålludden, on Värmdö – about 20 minutes by car from Stockholm city centre. The building is 10,220m² and is carefully placed among pine trees and cliffs with magnificent views over Baggensfjärden. Artipelag was designed by the late architect Johan Nyrén.