After spending his career scrupulously avoiding being photographed, star Belgian fashion designer Martin Margiela has decided to open up and sell off part of his personal archives.
Fans of the 69-year-old trailblazer, who retired in 2009, will be able to snap up artefacts ranging from sketches to one of his white work coats at an auction in Paris on Thursday that Margiela personally supervised.
But anyone hoping to learn more about one of the most enigmatic characters in fashion is likely to be disappointed, with the sale barely lifting the veil on the man behind the stripped-back brand of monochrome clothing.
“This sale is a creative act, and also a manifestation of his concept, his philosophy,” auctioneer Salome Pirson from Maurice Auction told AFP during a tour of the items.
“He’s giving the public the opportunity to discover his inner world, to touch his objects, to own his personal coat, but at the same time, he is the one who is most conspicuously absent,” she added.
