Is Maison Margiela owned by L’Oréal?

Dating this minimalist convertible transparent black chiffon rectangular garment by Belgian former fashion designer Martin Margiela to Spring 1994 among his many variations of the traditional waiter-style apron that he reworked with his eponymous Maison Martin Margiela since its first collection for Spring/Summer 1989, the iconic corner-stitched textural white-cotton brand label is stenciled with seemingly contradictory text referencing an earlier collection in Fall 1990. Instead of the blank label that had become internationally recognized among the fashion elite within the brand's initial five years--before the presence of any other tag printed with the designer name--this black print was added in this manner for only one collection during its founder's tenure. The distinct typography specified the collection season when the new Margiela design had debuted since he selected favorites to re-edition from his first 10 fashion shows. This season-less self-curated retrospective collection without any new designs was unprecedented in the ready-to-wear fashion industry, which sold only new clothes typically two to five times annually. In the early 1990s, this old-made-new-again collection was astonishing for a Paris-based high-end brand, for which any lack of fresh designs for Spring had otherwise been attributed to the loss of an artistic director or the outbreak of war. Nevertheless, there are subtle differences of color, material and draping possibilities that make our re-edition unique from the 1990 apron and from later "replicas", which was the term that Margiela printed on a different kind of label for his second self-curated retrospective in Spring 1999 following 10 more collections. Aside from the text-printed brand label with four characteristic hand-sewn corner stitches, the only other element that unified Margiela's first collection of favorites was that all the items were overdyed a darker color so that the clothes were various shades of grey, blue or black depending on the original color of the textile and how much dye the thread/yarn absorbed. The first Margiela apron...

Belgium former fashion designer Martin Margiela for his eponymous Paris-based Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 2007 collection in a minimalist style debuted this cherry-red visco...

Maison Margiela Semi Couture Dressmaker Bodice is a rare and important original Maison Martin Margiela high-collar Semi Couture dressmaker bodice...

Giacca in cotone Maison Martin Margiela da collezione. Taglia 46 vestibilità piccola Chiusura doppio bottone automatico, profili di n tessuto e particolare polso sqovrapposto Misure:...

Margiela Tabi Knee High Boots 2004 look book collection Beige Leather Size EU 38 U.K 5 Collectors, archivers and serious fashion lovers this is for you. From the fall 2004 runway...

With Belgian former couture-fashion designer Martin Margiela's original blank-white textural-cotton corner-sewn label from the early 1990s visible above the prominent circular knit hole, this openwork yarn top that is clearly a one-of-a-kind Line 0 Artisanal garment by Maison Martin Margiela is crocheted from a brown soft animal-hair blend into a see-through changeante pattern recalling a collapsed spiderweb. A prominent European dealer sold a longer deconstructed openwork grey cape realized for the Autumn-Hiver 1993-1994 collection by Margiela's longtime Italian knitter Miss Deanna (with remaining text-tag) that also features a circular knit hole in a mohair-blend yarn like ours. Further, we have found similar one-of-a-kind Margiela openwork-knit and unraveling pieces, as well as one with oversized snaps like the fasteners on our top, dating back to his 1992 collections. Suggesting it could have been from an earlier collection, Antwerp's fashion museum MoMu featured a pale deconstructed mohair knit sweater dating from 1990 in its major Martin Margiela 20-year retrospective, which was produced in collaboration with the designer during his final year at the house in 2008. Based on other Margiela couture pieces with more than one remaining identification tag, the design of our cardigan without a remaining text tag began as a vintage top collected by Martin Margiela to upcycle or reproduce, and/or it was made-to-order by Miss Deanna before he finished it to some degree with his Paris-based team. Our knit fastens with pompon-tipped yarn ties, along with two signature silver oversized-snap buttons, which most noticeably appeared on Margiela tops in 1994 for a collection that was inspired by toy-doll wardrobes and included human-sized reproductions of actual miniatures. For price comparison, another 1stDibs dealer currently lists a silver-oversized-snap-fastening brown faux-leather windbreaker "doll" jacket by Maison Martin Margiela for upwards of $7,000. Also on 1stDibs, two other Margiela 1990s...