Exclusive: backstage at Maison Martin Margiela SS15

Last year, the elusive Maison Martin Margiela opened the doors of their Parisian headquarters to Dazed, a surreal world where the reception desk is an old supermarket checkout and staff wear pristine white lab coats – more alchemists than designers. Even a blackboard, abandoned from the building’s days as an industrial design school, has its scrawled formulas intact. Last week in Paris, they invited us behind the scenes once more, granting Dazed photographer Harley Weir exclusive backstage access to their SS15 menswear show.

The collection’s ethos was one of disruption and spontaneity, pieces thrown off balance through their construction. Disparate elements were brought playfully together, as trousers (which were left out of the equation entirely on two looks) became hybrids with one leg patched denim, the other fleece cropped above the knee, and zip up shirts came half white, half blue. 

In what felt like a menswear take on the house’s couture – the Artisanal collections, where pieces can take over a hundred hours to bring to life – spectacular nude bodysuits were embroidered with logos. The only graphic element in a relatively neutral-hued, minimalist collection, they bore an abstract mix of words, print and imagery in breathtakingly intricate coloured beading. Model Frank Lebon (the son of cult Buffalo photographer Mark Lebon and brother of Tyrone) closed the show in one of the standout bodysuits, paired with red leather trousers.

Last season, Margiela took a high tech show to the HQ of the French communist party. See it below: