Martin Margiela Left Fashion, Now His Art Is Taking over Tokyo
Martin Margiela, founder of fashion house Maison Margiela, is set to open his first large-scale exhibition in Japan later this year. Titled Martin Margiela at Kudan House, the show will run from 11 to 29 April in Tokyo.
After departing from fashion in 2008 following his namesake brand’s 20th anniversary show, Margiela made art his primary creative outlet. The Tokyo exhibition will present an immersive collection of the designer’s drawings, paintings, assemblages and sculpture from across his career.
In a statement, the famously elusive designer, often referred to in fashion circles as “the invisible man”, noted that anonymity remains essential to his creative freedom. He said: “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.
“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.”
Last month Margiela’s former fashion house announced plans to open its archive to the public via Dropbox. The project, titled MaisonMargiela/folders, will see materials dating back to the brand’s origins in 1988 go online for download.
A statement shared via Maison Margiela’s Instagram account read: “MaisonMargiela/folders was conceived to explore the ideas and values at the core of our house, emerging from a study of the physical and digital files accumulated in our archives
“…Celebrating our process of documentation, our internal Dropbox folders are made public, revealing working materials from research and planning through to execution.”
More recently, the fashion house’s director Glenn Martens announced four new exhibitions, all opening alongside a presentation of its AW 26 collection during Shanghai Fashion Week in October.
The exhibitions begin with Artisanal: Creative Laboratory, taking place in Shanghai from 2 to 6 April. Next, the house will open Anonymity, our history of masks, which gathers 45 new and archival masks into one exhibition space, from 7 to 12 April in Beijing. Tabi: Collectors Exhibition will run from 9 April to 13 April in Chengdu and Biachetto: Atelier Experience will be on show in Shenzhen from 11 to 12 April.
Margiela was born in 1957 in Leuven, Belgium, graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp in 1980. He went on to found his iconic fashion brand, Maison Martin Margiela, eight years later in Paris. His first solo visual art show took place in Paris at Lafayette Anticipations in 2021.
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