Best. Designer. Ever.

Martin Margiela.  Makes me swoon and makes my brain explode.  I've loved him for years, as much as one can love an anonymous designer.  His clothes, his philosophy, his concepts: can I just BE him, please?

When my husband and I were in Antwerp last fall, ModeMuseum was presenting an exhibition to celebrate 20 years of Maison Martin Margiela, and I was so excited to see it.  Karl's mood was, um, resigned impatience?  But after about two minutes he was pulling me around - "Do you see this?"  "Check out this jacket!"  Such is the power...

 I honestly walked around in a daze for hours, just so overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of all that genius in one place.  I was literally weak in the knees and having heart palpitations.  How dorky, hey?  But maybe I understand religious rapture a little better now.

I don't want to bore you with all of my pictures, but I had to share some of my favorites.  The captions are as they appear in the program.

13.  Spring-Summer 1997 - Sleeveless jacket in raw linen, inspired by the covering of a dress maker's mannequin.  Thanks to the stiffness of the linen, the jacket keeps the original shape of them dummy while it is being worn.

22. Trompe-l'oeil - The 1996 Spring-Summer collection was made up of printed articles of clothing with a very simple cut and produced in fine, flowing fabrics.  Each piece is printed with a photograph of another garment, of which both the cut and the material differ strongly from the skirt, jacket or dress on which the photograph has been printed.

22. Autumn-Winter 2001-2002 - Velvet pressed on a jacket in such a way that a Print of buttons, collar and pockets is created in the velvet.

16. XXXL (Autumn-Winter 2000-2001)  Enlarged leather jacket, size 78.  Enlarged white dinner jacket with satin collar, sloping shoulders and pink powder puff.

Artisanal Collection 4. Spring-Summer 2008 - A plaiting of elastic bands creates a jacket.  Various widths and qualities of elastics are plaited directly on the dummy to make a jacket.  The different types of elastics brings a particular colour to each garment.  Production time: 29 hours

Artisanal Collection 10. Spring-Summer 2008 - Vintage buttons are embroidered on a silk chiffon to create a bit-mapped effect motif.  The front is embroidered with various buttons of mother-of-pearl, metal, plastic to draw a mouth.  Production time: 25 hours

A Doll's Wardrobe 12, Autumn-Winter 1994-1995 - Cardigan knitted in oversize gauge with large snap closures hidden behind faux button front.

I couldn't find the descriptions of the accessories, but this is a recycled fur wig.  Nice, isn't it?