Galliano does bias-cut bespoke at Maison Margiela Artisanal

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 22, 2018

All the elements of a woman’s wardrobe were present in a brilliantly perverse yet polished Maison Margiela Artisanal menswear collection by John Galliano presented Friday morning, the debut of haute couture for gentlemen and groovers at this house.

“A new masculinity through femininity and cutting,” Galliano said, in a podcast emailed out to editors pre-show. As is his tradition since joining Margiela, the British couturier did not take a bow at the show’s finale.
 
Corsets, high-heels, hairnets, voile scarves and leggings were just some on the feminine elements in this rather revolutionary statement. Though the most important was the bias cut. Galliano’s signature technique employed to create a whole new mood to the silhouette, mood and attitude of this spring 2019 collection.

“I just got so excited with the changing landscape of menswear and the new energy at different houses. So, I wanted to focus of Artisanal… I have taken the key silhouettes – mainly from tailoring and the bias. It’s a genre of cutting I have wanted to explore further for men,” said Galliano, as in the background one hears the sound of feverish typing.
 
The remainder of the menswear ready-to-wear collection will be shown in a co-ed show with womenswear in September during the French pret-a-porter season.
 
Staff carefully wet the courtyard in the house’s headquarters in funky north Paris, where the show was staged. Kicking off with a cape in tweed worn with skin-tight pants and boots with ladylike cut-out heels; houndstooth pleated pants worn with transparent mesh top and a lady’s headscarf; and a brilliant jean jacket trimmed with feathers, and made in a gold jacquard worthy of an Aztec king, with matching cowboy boots and skinny pink jeans.

Early pictures of Humphrey Bogart, with a shrug, expressing attitude, were also an inspiration. Though hard to imagine Bogart adapting the cast’s hairstyle. Most of the boys had hair cut in neat cornflowers of metallic gold, blue and primary red, like the huge shards of red plastic that made up the courtyard backdrop.
 
Galliano cut some beautiful highwayman topcoats and eye-catching windowpane check suits, cut on the bias that hung with languid élan – again worn with golden cowboy boots. Not a lot of men will wear bright turquoise PVC leggings or the bondage corsets paired with gigolo’s pants, but they sure made for a great series of images. A reminder that bespoke couture is the highest form of fashion for men.
 
“I wanted a whole new vocabulary of fabrics. My favorite satin-backed crepes, tweeds re-interpreted on the bias for daywear; uniquely made and fitted for you,” stressed Galliano. Talking almost whimsically of how he essentially stumbled on to the bias back in 1986 with his own Fallen Angels collection. Which is when a pal noted a similarity with Madeleine Vienne, and Galliano was off on a stylistic adventure, which continued right into this show.