Last season, Maison Martin Margiela celebrated the showgirl, layering razzle-dazzle tops under the label s exceptionally well-cut tailoring. Today, the team took up British tweeds, filtering the codes of the male wardrobe through more feminine fare. A dress in striped suit lining became an underpinning for a lace-trimmed silk slip with a tweed back. Between the shoulder blades, the house s familiar white cotton stitches were replaced with the iconic Harris Tweed logo. Along similar lines, a strapless checked flannel dress was designed to look like it had been constructed from trousers; the bustline was a waistband complete with a button closure, zip fly, and belt loops. On other looks, the tooled leather uppers of cordovan shoes morphed into dickeys, replacements for button-down shirts underneath knit sweaters and wool jackets.
Those dickeys had a nice perversity, but they were a visual pun dreamed up to produce an "aha, I get it" moment on the runway, rather than to actually be worn. Still, you won t hear any arguments from us about the Harris Tweed tailoring. The MMM folks make some of the best in the business: classically and efficiently cut, but not without distinguishing details like the pagoda shoulders that Margiela himself used to favor. The pagoda shoulders carried over into the collection s sweaters, the standout of which was a snug navy and cream riff on the Fair Isle. Meanwhile, you couldn t go wrong with their wide-lapel herringbone coat. As a rule, English gentlemen are a little less entertaining than Vegas showgirls, but there was nonetheless plenty to enjoy in this show.
