New Short Documentary on the Elusive Martin Margiela – The Artist Is Absent - Men's Folio
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New Short Documentary on the Elusive Martin Margiela – The Artist Is Absent

  • By Men's Folio

No one knows what Martin Margiela looks like, and that is a known fact. Try searching for a photograph of the man and you will draw endless blanks. The elusive Belgian designer has guised himself with an anonymity that has become a part of the Maison Margiela brand since his first show in 1989. With an avant-garde aesthetic that unifies structure and an other-worldly vision, Margiela has avoided the glitz that hounds many of his big-name peers, preferring to refrain from the cult of personality that inflates the ego while deterring the creative process.

Tribeca-selected The Artist Is Absent, is a short 12-minute documentary directed by Alison Chernick and supported by YOOX Group, attempts to flesh out Margiela’s obscurity by focusing on the designer’s mysterious career. Rare footage of earlier runways, archive footage and interviews with his collaborators are pieced together within The Artist is Absent to add layers to Margiela’s uncompromising point of view towards the prominence of fashion apart from celebrity status. 

Watch the full documentary here.