Jacket

This ‘Artisanal’ leather jacket by Maison Martin Margiela is made by hand: a base layer in white leather is overlaid with thin strips of magazine clippings of multicolored paper and clear tape. The technique of assemblage and collage of scraps in art relates back to junk art, Pop art and punk, which each in their own way aestheticized and glorified the waste products of western consumer society in the 1960s and 1970s. In this case, the use of the just-past newspapers mirrors fashion’s attraction by and distaste of the recent past: fashion cycles make obsolete yesterday’s garments (as sung by the Rolling Stones in their 1967 song Yesterday’s Papers: “Who wants yesterday’s papers- Nobody in the world”), yet at the same time consumes the recent past in a relentless quest for inspiration.

‘Artisanal’, the line (0) of the numbered collections of the conceptual fashion house, consisted of garments reworked by hand, usually made out of vintage garments or low-value materials. The Artisanal line is the house’s answer to the heavily regulated world of haute couture: it retains the handmade element, but by using typically low-value materials, time and duration are prioritized over luxurious materials. It is a silent statement that the human hand is what sets couture apart from throwaway fashion, not the luxurious or opulent materials used.