Maison Martin Margiela

Strange folks, those Belgian fashion icons. Martin Margiela - some say he’s nr. 7 of the Antwerp Six - is known for not being known. Throughout his career which he started at the house of Jean Paul Gaultier he maintained an extremely low profile, he has never had his picture taken and he remains backstage after his shows. And all media contact is dealt with via fax. His brand is brand-less, his products are nameless. All of this has made Margiela the biggest of brands, and was acquired by Diesel in 2002. At some point Margiela was fed up with fashion and rumor had it he left the company. Stakeholder Renzo Rosso (the big boy behind Diesel) made public in 2009: “Martin is here but he is not here.” How cool is that? The book is almost equally cool and extremely inspirational.