MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA FW 90 Extremely rare slashed felted long sleeves top
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Milano, MILANO
Extremely rare Fall Winter 1990 slashed felted long sleeves top by Maison Martin Margiela 72% wool 28% polyamide
Belgian designer Martin Margiela (b. 1957) — whose life, career, and designs for handbags, clothing and shoes have become cult-collector obsessions — pushed those who attended his shows outside their comfort zones. In the years following the 1988 debut of Maison Martin Margiela, he toyed with creative and aesthetic paradoxes that persist in fashion today.
Consider the Spring/Summer 2001 shirt patchworked from vintage clothing labels, or his famous corset dresses made from tailoring dummies, from his Fall/Winter 1997 line. Or his oversize collection for Fall/Winter 2000. In 1992, Margiela told Dépêche Mode magazine, “My clothes appeal to women of a certain mindset rather than of a specific age or physique.”
Born in Genk, Belgium, in 1957, Margiela knew he wanted to be a fashion designer after catching glimpses of Parisian fashion on TV as a child. Although his parents discouraged this career choice as an oddly funny aspiration, Margiela enrolled in the fashion program of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. There, he befriended and graduated a year ahead of the Antwerp Six — the acclaimed group of Belgian fashion designers comprising Dries Van Noten, Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Marina Yee, Dirk Bikkembergs and Dirk Van Saene.
Like many of his contemporaries in the 1980s, Margiela understood Paris fashion but felt a deep resonance with the deconstructed beauty espoused by Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, of Comme des Garçons. Margiela’s fascination with Japan influenced many of his earliest collections and designs, from a dress pieced together from broken plates to his iconic Tabi boots, inspired by the split-toe Japanese worker’s shoe, which dates back to the 15th century.
Margiela decided to launch his own line while working for renowned Paris designer Jean Paul Gaultier. With Belgian designer Jenny Meirens, Margiela established Maison Martin Margiela in the French capital in 1988.
Margiela’s debut show was nothing short of spectacular. Set in a packed Café de la Gare in the still-seedy Marais district, it was also scandalous to the Parisian fashion set of the time. The designer tore up the conventions of contemporary couture presentations, most notably having his models, plucked from the streets and wearing ink-blotted Tabis, wend their way through the crowd.
The show redefined the concept of the runway in a way that would later inspire such designers as Alexander McQueen and Demna Gvasalia.
While the notoriously private designer retired from fashion in 2009, for many Maison Martin Margiela collectors, his pieces capture the irreverence of the postwar, post-punk late 1980s and ’90s. Katy Rodriguez, cofounder of the cult vintage fashion shop Resurrection, is among those who felt a connection to Margiela’s clothing in the subliminal challenges it posed to the time’s beauty norms.
“Growing up in San Francisco and coming out of the end of punk rock, not wanting to be objectified, not wanting to be seen as a sexual object, not wanting your value to be just because you’re pretty — all those clothes played into all of that,” she says. “It really was a reflection of the kind of world the young people I knew at the time wanted to live in.”
John Galliano was named creative director at the house in 2014 and it rebranded as Maison Margiela in 2015.
Find vintage Maison Martin Margiela boots, evening dresses, jackets and more on 1stDibs.
MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA FW 90 Extremely rare slashed felted long sleeves top
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Milano, MILANO
Extremely rare Fall Winter 1990 slashed felted long sleeves top by Maison Martin Margiela 72% wool 28% polyamide
Maison Martin Margiela Vintage Spring 2003 100% Cotton Black Knit Top
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Antwerpen, Vlaams Gewest
Maison Martin Margiela by Martin Vintage Spring 2003 100% Cotton Black Knit Top This is a rare vintage knit top from Martin Margiela, made Spring 2003 100% Cotton Black Knit Top The ...
MAISON MARGIELA 2005 Vintage 100% silk black sideways off shoulder top IT42 M
By MM6 Maison Margiela, Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Hong Kong, NT
MAISON MARGIELA 2005 Vintage 100% silk black sideways off shoulder top IT42 M Reference: TGAS/C01158 Brand: Maison Margiela Designer: Martin Margi...
Maison Martin Margiela Miss Deanna Trompe L'oeil Lurex Knit Pullover FW1999
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Chicago, IL
When Belgian former fashion designer Martin Margiela debuted gold Lurex knits while French luxury-goods Hermes Womenswear Artistic Director, simultaneously for Fall/Winter 1999, he introduced at his eponymous Paris-based Maison Martin Margiela a collection featuring 1970s-inspired Lurex-accented sweaters, along with oversized loose clothes intended for either women or men. Including a distinct printed tag stitched into a seam by Italian knitwear innovator Miss Deanna, who created many iconic knits under Margiela's artistic direction, this Margiela sparkly finely-knit long-sleeve pullover in a Lurex and viscose stretch blend is a minimalist unisex design with narrow ribbed trim at the crewneck, wrists and hem. Its "Made In Italy" size 44 with a 15.5-inch shoulder-line is without darts and drapes like a one-size-fits-most soft T-shirt. Presenting the optical illusion of a dark tube top and detached sleeves worn underneath, the lightweight sweater was knit from pale-gold, grey and blue yarns into a ombre pattern like a spray-painted gradient or dip-dyed fabric. Yet the additional glittery orange-tone metallic thread (difficult to photograph due to reflections) woven throughout proves that it was not painted or dyed, but an experimental complex knitwear manufacturing technique by Miss Deanna. While we have sold Lurex distorted sweaters by Miss Deanna from the F/W 1999 collection with matching label text formatting and a blank Margiela brand label, none of them included a conceptual trompe-l'oeil of another garment in reference to earlier collections, which suggests that this is among a Margiela-commissioned one-off comparable to her initial Artisanal knits. Later for Margiela's first diffusion collections, Miss Deanna mass-produced knits for Line 6, which were identified by the house's new brand label with a circled numeral among the Line numbers from 0 to 23. This more affordable Line evolved into MM6. Comparatively, Margiela's Fall 1999 Artisanale Line 0 collection, which was instead produced by his Parisian team, explored the textural effects of hand-painting fabrics, such as the unisex T-shirts that were striped or obscured with thick silver paint. Earlier in the 1990s, Margiela had reproduced some vintage...
Maison Martin Margiela Black Short Sleeved Top 2002
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Resurrection Vintage is thrilled to offer a vintage Maison Martin Margiela black short sleeved top from 2002, featuring a round neck, drop shoulders, wide short sleeves, and a slight...
MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA black polyester CUT OUT Blouse Shirt 42 L
By MM6 Maison Margiela
Located in Zürich, CH
100% authentic Maiso Martin Margiela long-sleeve round-neck top in black polyester (100%). Laser cut-out detail on chest. Opens with a zipper on the back. Has been worn and is in exc...
Martin Margiela Geometric Draped Top
By Maiscon Martin Margiella, Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Water Mill, NY
A gorgeous sleeveless top in a beautiful teal green from Martin Margiela. It has a V neckline, side zipper and draping panels on the front and over one shoulder. The back is simple. ...
Maison Martin Margiela Long Sleeve Double Layer Top
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Laguna Beach, CA
This effortlessly supple double-layer cotton-knit top is vintage Maison Martin Margiela. The soft white top features long sleeves coupled with a long length that slips over the hips....
Comme Des Garcons Rei Kawakubo Asymmetric Lumps Light Wool Fitted Blouse 1994
By Rei Kawakubo Comme Des Garcons, Comme des Garçons
Located in Chicago, IL
With a unique hand-folded, gathered and top-stitched square neckline with triangular "lumps", this asymmetrical lightweight-wool long-sleeve pullover loose-fitting blouse was designe...
FABULOUS Thierry Mugler Couture SS 2001 Les Solaris Blouse Top Sheer Net Leather
By Thierry Mugler Couture
Located in Berlin, BE
Stunning Thierry Mugler Couture creation, SS2001 Les Solarisées Collection. Extremely rare and fabulous vintage Couture piece, documented seen on the Runway. Dripping in celestial se...

A/W2002 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford sheer sleeve top
By Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent
Located in Milano, Lombardia
A/W2002 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford sheer sleeve top This A/W2002 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford top features a fitted silhouette with dramatic elongated sheer sleeves and a deep...

A/W2001 Jean Paul Gaultier colorblock graphic mesh top
By Jean Paul Gaultier
Located in Milano, Lombardia
A/W2001 Jean Paul Gaultier colorblock graphic mesh top This A/W2001 Jean Paul Gaultier mesh top features an abstract colorblock graphic composition printed across a semi-sheer stret...

S/S 2002 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford mesh zip top
By Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent
Located in Milano, Lombardia
S/S 2002 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford mesh zip top A standout piece from Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2002 collection for Yves Saint Laurent, this fitted sleeveless top combines techn...

S/S2003 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford sculptural ribbed knit top
By Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent
Located in Milano, Lombardia
S/S2003 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford sculptural ribbed knit top This Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford knit top from Spring/Summer 2003 features an intricate sculptural ribbed constr...

2008 Maison Margiela 2-in-1 ruched midi dress
By Maison Martin Margiela
Located in Milano, Lombardia
2008 Maison Margiela 2-in-1 ruched midi dress This 2008 Maison Margiela dress showcases the house’s conceptual approach through a 2-in-1 construction. Crafted in a fluid fabric, it ...
Early 1990s Dolce & Gabbana draped silk top
By Dolce & Gabbana
Located in Milano, Lombardia
Early 1990s Dolce & Gabbana draped silk top This early 1990s Dolce & Gabbana top is crafted from luxurious silk and showcases the house's refined approach to draping. Featuring volu...