Martin Margiela: In His Own Words

Sure, another documentary. This time about an unseen fashion icon.

Martin Margiela has put in 20 years into the fashion industry, and this movie basically charts each fashion show. He has a rather unusual sense that appeals to a lot of people, and we can see the creative process in action as he takes clothes and presents them in rather odd ways. And one of his common gimmicks is covering the faces of his models so that people concentrate on his clothes. In a similar vein, he never gives interviews because he's fed up with the questions and doesn't want to deal with them, just let his clothes speak for him.

He's definitely an admired figure, a lot of praise for his stuff. We get him talking about things, and get to see him... putting things together. Hands and arms is about the most we get of him, in keeping with the "don't see him" attitude.

While I can see his fashion pieces as art, I'm not sure I see them as clothes, as things people would wear on any basis other than "hey, I have this strange outfit I'm going to show off at this strange party". This makes me wonder if anyone has done a documentary on "once the clothes leave the catwalk, what happens to them next?" Are people buying these things in droves? Are they just art pieces for the moment? I have no idea.

A decent documentary that has the idea of showing off his work, and just getting on with it.

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