Graduating from Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s Martin Margiela (and his
contemporaries in the Antwerp Six) transformed global fashion with his aggressive restatement
of traditional fashion design and a polemical approach to luxury trends. Working first with the
house of Gaultier Margiela absorbed the radical design of Japanese deconstruction making it
wholly his own with the founding of his own label in 1988. Margiela propounds a singular
enigmatic look moving beyond the recognizable tropes of deconstruction—a monochromatic palette
outsized garments non-traditional fabrics exposed seams or roughly appliquéd details—to
develop a fully considered worldview one with elegance mystery and menace in equal measure.
This book provides an inside look at the design process from a craftsman who creates pieces
prized for their originality delicacy and daring. In the spirit of Margiela's garments the
book is a work of art in itself designed exclusively by Margiela and complete with silver inks
ribbon markers a variety of lush paper types twelve booklets and an embroidered white-linen
cover. This book provides a window onto the intimate handmade world of a unique designer.
