Martin Margiela’s Personal Fashion Archive Fetches €1.39 Million at Paris Auction
A rare collection from the personal archives of legendary Belgian fashion designer Martin Margiela fetched €1.39 million at an auction in Paris, marking an extraordinary moment for admirers of the famously private designer. The 195-piece sale, organised by Maurice Auction in collaboration with Kerry Taylor Auctions, featured sketches, prototype designs, Hermès creations, and one of Margiela’s iconic white work coats. Buyers from Japan, South Korea, and China showed particularly strong interest in the auction.
The standout item was a pair of graffiti-covered Tabi boots from 1991, which sold for an impressive €364,000. Other highlights included a prototype of Margiela’s signature face mask worn by runway models, Barbie dolls used as design mannequins, and pieces created during his tenure as creative director of Hermès between 1997 and 2003. Before the auction, Margiela said he felt it was the right time to part with some of his fashion-related memories.
Renowned for avoiding the spotlight throughout his career, Margiela rarely allowed himself to be photographed, never granted media interviews, and famously declined to appear on the runway after his fashion shows. Having retired in 2009, he made a rare public gesture in 2018 by collaborating on a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Palais Galliera in Paris. Auction organisers described the sale as a symbolic way for the designer to shape the legacy of his work by placing his treasured archive into the hands of collectors.
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