From tabi boots to flip phones, Maison Margiela's accessory game is impossible to top. Next up, sunglasses courtesy of Korean eyewear wunderkind Gentle Monster.
First seen as part of Maison Margiela's Artisanal 2022 collection, the collaborative shades it designed with Gentle Monster are as inventive as anything you'd expect from the house that Martin built.
The 11 distinct sunglasses run the stylistic gamut from borderline conventional to otherworldly.
Design inspirations include butterflies and "creatures," according to a press release, which becomes clear when you behold the sunglasses' otherworldly shapes.
Not that the collection is entirely unfamiliar, necessarily: staple Margiela cues are present, including the instantly-recognizable four-bar stitch, "8" logo (more on this later), and mutable properties: Margiela encourages wearing the aviator-style MM003 sunglasses as a "headband or tiara," for instance.
There's also a printed number "8," the signifier of Margiela's eyewear collection that debuted in 2008 with L'Incognito shades that imitated the crossed-out eyes of old Margiela lookbooks.
Margiela's Gentle Monster eyewear also comes packaged in a hand-stitched matelassé quilt package, indicative of the label's signature Glam Slam bags.
Released on February 28 through Gentle Monster and Margiela's retail outposts, the collaboration was first teased on February 1.
This makes Gentle Monster only Margiela's second eyewear collaborator, following the Italian label's debut partnership with Mykita, which began nearly a decade ago.
In comparison to the Mykita deigns, Margiela & Gentle Monster's sunglasses are chunkier, quirkier, sportier.
The branding is more visible even while the designs are decidedly more contemporary, channeling a sense of youthful exuberance akin to the current vibe at sibling label MM6 Maison Margiela.
No surprise there: creative director John Galliano has made it clear that his vision for Margiela is all about the here and now.
Not that historic Margiela codes have been forsaken, just that Galliano is always looking ahead. And, thanks to Gentle Monster, it's never been easier for Galliano to look ahead and look good simultaneously.
