Maison Martin Margiela spring—summer 1999. Presentation: 6 rue Fèrou, a large aban
Maison Martin Margiela spring—summer 1999. Presentation: 6 rue Fèrou, a large abandoned private house at Place St Suplice in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. The official ‘calendar’ of shows, sent to journalists by the French Chambre Syndical of Haute Couture and Prêt a Porter is stamped and used an invitation. The invited public fill the first two floors of the house. All shutters on the windows and curtains are shut to the outside world. Only the existing light bulbs, hanging on a wire from each ceiling, light each room. The sound and conversations of the public on the first floor are broadcast to the public on the ground floor and vice versa. While the public waits for the show to begin, men in white coats, wearing ‘sandwich boards’, walk in procession through the rooms. Poster size photographs of garments from ‘6’ are printed on each sandwich board. Fifteen men wearing garments from ‘10’ follow them. When all twenty-five men leave the space, the lights go out, and the invited public stands in darkness. Forty women wearing the collection begin their procession, one at a time, through each room. As each woman enters a room they are lit by small lights hand-held by a team of fifty-four men spread throughout the house. As they move through the room their light follows them and goes out as they leave the room. Each woman smells of patchouli oil. A soundtrack of heavy rock music plays over the sound system. For the finale all of the forty women and twenty-five men, pass through the crowd.Collection:The collection is now made up of groups: 0: Reworked garments for women; 0/10: Reworked garments for men; 1: A collection for women; 6: Garments for girls & women, 10: A wardrobe for men, 13: Publications – objects and 22: Shoes for women. All groups other than ‘1’ carries a label on which the numbers 0 to 23 are printed. In each case the relevant number for that piece is encircled on its label. -- source link
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