Margiela: In the Void
The journey of a museums acquisition of full vintage runway looks is a privileged one to witness. With an educational vision and mission to spread awareness and participation of extraordinary creativity from fashion history, the Parodi Costume Collection’s commitment to the legacy of Martin Margiela is being shared for the first time.
MARGIELA: IN THE VOID is an exhibition that presents some of the major Margiela icons, whilst creating a narrative around the voids – the missing items that would otherwise make up full looks.
“For the past years, Parodi Costume Collection (PCC) has been carefully adding key pieces of Martin Margiela’s seminal designs to its archive. Margiela’s work resonates deeply with PCC’s focus on critical thinking about fashion, and its mission to educate, by exploring the many visual and ethical dimensions of his work. These aims are attainable, in great part, through dialogues and collaborations with a community of worldwide professionals dedicated to Margiela’s legacy.
PCC curators and staff engaged Byronesque, Alexander Samson, and a group of artists and designers, in a conversation that explores the personality and process of one of the most important meta-designers in the history of fashion. PCC is honored to present the product of this intercontinental exchange, MARGIELA: IN THE VOID, the first critical look on the work of Martin Margiela ever presented in the city of Miami.” – Gonzalo Parodi, Director, Parodi Costume Collection.
“Martin was famously absent. Our idea to focus on the voids taps into his personality as a designer and goes deep into the literal and metaphorical voids surrounding each piece. Museums are traditionally protective of their acquisitions. This idea allows people to witness full looks being created in real time. And with the exhibition launching during Art Basel, it was an opportunity to be more abstract and conceptual, than simply presenting clothes on mannequins. The Parodi Costume Collection is extraordinarily progressive for a place dedicated to the past. We’re lucky to have their partnership to tell a different, unexplored side of Martin Margiela” -Gill Linton, Byronesque.
Artists and designers from around the world were invited to bring the void concepts within 13 of Martin Margiela’s iconic designs to life. The introduction text, written by Alexandre Samson, author of “Martin Margiela, the Women collections” and curator at the Palais Galliera, the Fashion Museum of Paris, further explores some of the ways Martin filled creative voids in his work. Byronesque produced didactics explaining the voids for each item on display, including a poetic tribute to Martin, co-written with Samson, that is the poignant finale void of the exhibit.
276 NE 27th St, Miami, FL 33137, United States. By appointment only, via www.parodicostumecollection.com
Photography by David Gary Lloyd.