Have you ever seen something so hauntingly beautiful that a long pause feels necessary to process the emotion? Maison Margiela brought an after-hours Parisian flea market directly to Shanghai for Autumn/Winter 2026. Glenn Martens is continuing his profound exploration and recalibration of the house language, moving forward from the ghostly silhouettes and stitched mouthpieces he debuted last season for his Artisanal collection.
The presentation serves as the opening chapter for ‘MaisonMargiela/folders,’ a twelve-day sequence of exhibitions and activations across four major Chinese cities. While Shanghai celebrates the couture heart of the Artisanal line, Beijing focuses on the history of masks, Chengdu explores the legacy of the Tabi and Shenzhen invites the public to experience the bianchetto white paint treatment.
A hidden universe of obsessions and rituals materialised on the runway, which was surrounded by shipping containers housing archival looks. Living porcelain dolls wandered through the space, wearing reimagined curiosities. Blending ready-to-wear with ultra-rare Artisanal pieces felt nostalgic, harking back to the founding years of the Maison.
Every look arrived shrouded in an Artisanal mask, creating a mesmerising sea of anonymity that felt quintessentially Margiela. Models moved like porcelain dolls navigating a forgotten world. This theme was executed through organza layered up to eight times and printed to mimic the delicate fragility of Chinese ceramics.
Shattered fragments of actual ceramics were carefully reassembled and fixed onto a dress for a heartbreakingly gorgeous effect. Edwardian silhouettes breathed life into the collection through high necklines, dramatic sleeves and cascading lace finishes. An original Edwardian painting measuring six metres long was miraculously transformed into a garment without a single cut. Another piece featured a mould of an antique gown, capturing the exact impression of long-lost jewellery.
Beeswax played a starring role across several garments. One restored Edwardian dress was completely encased in wax to seal its history and fuse its delicate layers permanently. Frayed vintage dresses too fragile to wear were glued to new fabric bases and violently ripped away, leaving only a ghostly memory of the garment behind.
Threadbare tapestries received the most tender care, painstakingly stitched with delicate paillettes to heal decades of damage. Tailcoats had their tails abruptly chopped off or arrived heavily painted in the signature white bianchetto. Classic double-breasted jackets and trench coats were fused with second-skin jersey, while leather melted into tweed and rich velvet bonded to structured tailoring. Boiled wool dresses were raw-cut and heavily steamed to match historical Edwardian proportions.
Heavy knit V-neck jumpers arrived purposefully ill-fitting, bearing necklines that looked as though moths had enjoyed a feast. Other jumpers featured thickly painted fronts in bold red, white and black. Draping reached new levels of complexity. Rigid furniture fabrics were bonded to pre-draped dresses and cracked open right along the fold. Skirts were constructed to look as though a gust of wind had caught the top layer of a double pleat and frozen it in time. Printed dresses bonded to plissé slips cracked apart to reveal layers beneath. Waistcoats layered over shirts were bonded by printed silk and then cut free, creating a fascinating negative space.
Footwear brought a surreal magic to the floor. Heel-less pumps painted in white bianchetto walked alongside heel-less cowboy boots and Tabi ballerinas reimagined in tight second-skin materials. Level Cut-Out boots revealed raw layers of leather lining, while ankle boots had their fronts carved away to leave a cuff resting over the foot. Knee-high boots featured striking cutaway windows across the bridge, and the men’s Float shoe placed a standard upper onto a surprisingly tiny sole. Tabi-claw boots arrived on a stiletto heel, sharing space with Perspex heel sandals boasting transparent straps.
The bags carried just as much emotional intensity. Glam Slam bags were sanded down to resemble plush, battered old leather sofas. The new Link bag emerged with a soft structure and a metal chain shrink-wrapped in velvet and broken mirror. Box bags were covered in star stickers or adorned with porcelain-effect trims. The 5AC bag adopted the tapestry prints from the clothing on a laser-cut base designed to distress over time, finished with a handle wrapped like a vintage tennis racket. Jewellery looked like forgotten treasures pulled from a dusty attic box and dipped in wax, with other pieces mirroring the metallic structure of chandelier crystals.
Margiela stole our hearts this season, making it clear that even broken things can be made whole again.
Discover the Autumn/Winter 2026 collection here.
photography. courtesy of Maison Margiela
words. Gennaro Costanzo
