Brand: MM6 Maison Margiela

Season: Spring/Summer 2022

Buy: SSENSE, Browns, MATCHESFASHION

Release Date: TBD

Editor's Notes: MM6 Maison Margiela hosted a party-meets-runway-show at Milan Fashion Week.

The Maison Margiela sub-label ("diffusion line" is too reductive of a term for MM6) staged its Spring/Summer 2022 show at La Belle Aurore, a Milanese bistro, where guests were invited to mingle over snacks and drinks.

The collection was, in part, a celebration of our tentative return to group gatherings and celebrations, the "cinematic experience of seeing faces from different walks of life once again come together in the same place" (per show notes).

It was also an exercise in restraint and indulgence, carefully balancing wearability and the avant-garde.

Aiming to capture the rebelliousness of surrealist artists including Claude Cahun and Leonora Carrington, the MM6 team transformed quotidian objects into playful fashion. A chess board became a checkered top; butcher paper became a suit (a feat not unlike Margiela's famous pattern paper garments).

The collection also experimented with trompe l'oeil, a technique often used by surrealists. Boiled cotton was manipulated to resemble leather, quite convincingly at that. And, in a rare collaborative spirit, MM6 worked with Eastpak to craft a series of flat, poster-sized bags printed with images of the latter's hero backpack.

The meta bag was a humorous touch, a cleverly insouciant accessory that's sure to become a hit among customers.

Clearly, I'm a fan of fashion — I love to dissect it and write about it and, of course, wear it.

Sometimes, though, it's easy to get too caught up the glamour and the hype, the spectacle of the industry. With a wink and a nudge, MM6 Maison Margiela reminded us all: it's just clothing — have fun!