Alton Mason’s All-White Margiela Fit Felt Like the Future of Menswear
Highsnobiety’s Fitmas Calendar is a recap of 2019’s best celebrity style. Throughout the month of December, we’ll be looking back at one fit each day, diving deeper into why it worked and how you can achieve the look.
Who: Alton Mason
The outfit he’s wearing: Maison Margiela Tabi boots and handbag, white skinny jeans, and a white leather Perfecto 5 zip leather sport jacket also from Margiela.
Where and when: Paris Fashion Week, September 2019
Editor’s notes: Alton Mason, recently crowned GQ’s model of the year, embodied the 2019 menswear mood with an all-white fit from Maison Margiela. The details in the dancer-turned-model’s outfit speaks to several shifts in the fashion industry over the past 12 months.
Firstly, let’s start with the bag, which was first seen on John Galliano’s Spring 2020 runway for Maison Margiela. Pictured above with white skinny jeans and a leather perfecto, the bag highlights how purses were no longer just seen as a womenwear accessory in 2019, with other brands such as Fendi, Acne Studios, and Louis Vuitton all designing unisex handbags.
Unlike other bags this year, some of which became small to the point of parody, Mason’s accessory is large, geometric, and looks like something from the future. The bag is called “SNATCHED,” which describes how it’s carried (with the strap covering the hand), but is also a reference to drag culture, where “snatched” is slang for looking good.
Then there are the Tabis. Margiea’s split-toe hoof boot had a big moment this year and continued its legacy as one of the most divisive fashion items to have ever been produced. Despite Martin Margiela himself describing the Tabi as the most important footprint of his career, a men’s version would not be released until 2017, about seven years after Margiela exited his label.
As we previously summarized in our history of the Tabi, “there’s a strange queasiness in the Western world when it comes to footwear that hints at or shows the actual anatomy of the foot.” Whatever feeling the image of a leather cleft toe might conjure up, Mason’s white pair above are a most welcome respite in the oversaturated world of high-end designer sneakers.
If you want to recreate the look you can shop Margiela Tabis below in patent black lather and gray/white.
Patent Tabi Boots
Maison Margiela
White Bianchetto Tabi Boots
Maison Margiela
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