On July 9, Paris will host what is already being described as one of the most important fashion auctions of the year. The personal archives of Martin Margiela – the designer who turned anonymity into a creative strategy and deconstruction into one of fashion’s defining languages – will go under the hammer.
The sale will be organized by Maurice Auction. Before the bidding begins, the public will have a chance to view the lots, although even this preview remains true to the Margiela myth. The exhibition will take place at a secret location, with the address set to be revealed only in June.
More than 150 lots spanning different periods of the designer’s career will be offered. Among them are the iconic Blouse Blanche, pieces created during his time at Hermès, archival documents, personal belongings, and prototypes that have never been publicly exhibited.
One of the most intriguing objects is a telephone from Margiela’s desk dating back to 1988. His phone number is handwritten directly on the device, a practical solution to the fact that he constantly forgot it. The rotary phone is also considered one of the earliest examples of an object covered in white paint, a gesture that would later become one of the defining visual signatures of Maison Margiela.
In notes accompanying one of the lots, Margiela reflects on his relationship with the color white. He explains that he deliberately avoided grey concrete and black, which had already become strongly associated with Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto. White became a way of establishing his own visual territory.
The auction will also feature the legendary Tabi boots covered in graffiti after an exhibition at the Galliera Museum in 1991, as well as prototypes of the veils used to conceal models’ faces during Maison Martin Margiela runway shows. Some still bear the designer’s own pencil annotations.
Margiela is now 69 years old. Since leaving the fashion industry in 2009, he has remained largely absent from public life, rarely giving interviews and focusing instead on artistic projects. That distance has only intensified the fascination surrounding his work and personal archives.
Interest in Margiela’s legacy continues to grow. In 2024, Maurice Auction staged another sale dedicated to the designer, offering pieces from the Picozzi family archive. The family owned the atelier responsible for producing Maison Martin Margiela collections between 1988 and 1994. One of the standout lots was a grey wool ensemble from the Spring/Summer 1990 collection, featuring a skirt constructed from deconstructed men’s trousers. It sold for €65,000.
Perhaps the most revealing aspect of this auction is that the market’s fascination now extends far beyond finished garments. Sketches, prototypes, work tools, and personal objects have become as desirable as the collections themselves. What once belonged backstage is gradually entering the realm of museum artifacts.
