The MM6 group went all out for their showcase as this season’s guest designers at Pitti Uomo in Florence. If he was feeling the pressure of performing in a city known as “the fashion capital of stylish menswear,” as he admitted backstage, he might have been more self-conscious knowing that That they would be measured against Martin Margiela’s memorable Pitti collection. At the Teatro Puccini. That 2006 show was presented entirely in white, with models arriving in limos or Vespas, and entering through the main entrance of the theater before lining up on the stage, then making their way into the viewing crowd. Were.
Set at dusk in the Tepidarium del Rooster – a grand glass hothouse built in the late 19th century within Florence’s Giardino dell’Articultura – this almost all-black show was a stark contrast with the whimsical art nouveau architecture of its venue. It also served as a counterpoint to Margiela’s all-white situationist presentation 19 years earlier, and perhaps as an insensitive but elegant homage. The models walked across a raised platform before meeting the audience after the show concluded.
The collection stood out as a smooth, sophisticated and sensual reinterpretation of classic menswear tropes, described by a collective spokesperson as “indicative of different shades of masculinity”. Marking the first full MM6 men’s show, the clothes re-imagined traditional masculine ideals with a distinctly Margiela twist. Linen was coated and rubberized to imitate black leather; A tuxedo suit was crafted in tinsel-y turquoise lurex that was bursting at the seams (“precious but also messy”), and black denim airbrushed to give the effect of being lit sideways by a fading spotlight. Was. These theatrical touches also reflect the stylish stage persona of Miles Davis, whose expansive, carefully crafted wardrobe was featured on the team’s moodboard.
The collection had a charged undercurrent of kink, clearly inspired by venus in furyLeopold von Sacher-Masoch’s infamous novel, about the interplay of submission and domination, is fittingly set in Florence. As a spokesperson for the design team described it, the city is rife with “the tension between the sublime and the ugly”, a tonal, raw sexual energy that is conveyed within the collection through thin leather lashings, tight black chiffon hanging from the sides of trousers. It was filled with precision. Neckties secured with leather straps, and occasionally tufts of femme faux-mink. Completing the picture, Pulp’s “This Is Hardcore” was featured on the appropriate soundtrack. Overall, this was a great example of Margiela’s industrial edge, oozing with a confident sexy cool.