When the iron gates of the 17th churchyard clang shut early and you’re begging the guardian to be let in… The slightly gothic experience of getting into Marques’ Almeida’s show turned out to be a serendipitous scene-setter for the clothes. Back in London for the first time since the pandemic, Marta Marques and Paolo Almeida returned with a fresh infusion of renaissance shapes and baroque floral brocades.
The view from the pews of St Paul’s Church in the heart of Covent Garden was of doublet jackets, high-necked ruffled shirts, 17th-century milk-maid dresses and fabrics with a rich antiquey-feel. All of it was cleverly run through the filter of Marques’ Almeida’s recognizable signatures: denims, boyfriend jeans, and casual jackets, but now noticeably without the rips, frayed edges and hanging threads with which they first made their name as CSM MA graduates in 2010.
On a zoom call from their home-base in Portugal, where the couple re-centered themselves when the pandemic hit, they explained that a trip to the Rijksmuseum had started it. “We were in Amsterdam for a weekend, without the kids for once,” Marques laughed. “And came back really inspired by 17th century Dutch portraiture.”
It called for pearly eau de nil brocades, flowered tapestry and lace, inverted triangle bodices and cavalier sleeves to hybridize with belted jackets. As long-time experts in the art of denim, they came up with amazing new techniques: embossed baroque lily patterns and laser-printed scans of lace in pieces dyed in lovely shades of washed-out sky-blue.
What’s the difference between how they feel now and when they left London? “Well, we’ve always had our relationships with customers who we’ve been inspired by—we used to call them M’A Girls. But we’ve grown up and they’ve grown up,” said Almeida. So now we say M’A People.”
True: they’ve really polished it up since we last saw them in London. For one thing, the setting this time was far from the railway-sidings, derelict clubs, and East End warehouses where they used to convene shows. The historic setting of St Paul’s suggested a lot of associations: Nell Gwyn, the actress who sold oranges in Covent Garden market and became the King’s mistress, and the famous fictional Victorian Cockney Sparrow Eliza Doolittle, who sold flowers on the steps of the St Paul’s in My Fair Lady, for two.
Something of their feisty spirit seemed to inhabit the attitudes of the models—a diverse cast of characters age-wise who were clearly enjoying their moment. That female gang-spirit, and the fits that Marques’ Almeida customers have loved and collected were all present as ever, but in a different context. These days, Marques’ Almeida people’s criteria for cool might not be stuff that works in a club, but to cover more overground occasions like dinners, weddings, and whatnot.
This collection—with this new streak of maturity and sophistication—upped the Marques’ Almeida game. They’re not planning to return from Portugal any time soon, but the couple say that their spiritual fashion home will always be London.
