A large crowd clad in black leather and long skirts gathered at 5 Beekman Street last night to celebrate Maison Martin Margiela’s collaboration with H&M. The nine floors of the long-abandoned downtown building set the stage for art installations by Daniel Arsham, Frederique Chauveaux, and Noemie Goudal. Dancers modeling the collection, which consisted of a reedition of iconic Margiela garments spanning more than 23 years, swept across large squares of pristine white sand in a performance choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
“Neato!” exclaimed Sarah Jessica Parker as she walked past televisions showing fuzzy security footage of the other patrons, including Kanye West, Julianne Moore, and Alexander Wang, mingling through the labyrinthine tower. While many had brought out their favorite Margiela pieces to wear for the occasion, Mena Suvari stood out in a sweater from the capsule collection with a playful trompe l’oeil knit, “I think it’s incredible that these designers are working with H&M. I love high/low and have always been really into dressing like that.”
The VIP lounge and bar was located near the top and provided a perfect view of the evening’s final performance, which took place in the lobby of the indoor courtyard and began with a single signature black blazer bathed in bright white light. Everyone fell silent momentarily during the solemn sounds of a solo Spanish guitar but the tone quickly shifted. As soon as silver confetti started to fall from the top of the greenhouse atrium, the DJ dropped the beat, and the crowd joined in the dance.
