A Closer Look at the Maison Margiela Fall 2025 Couture Collection

Vogue Philippines correspondent Alexandre Dornellas viewed all 49 looks of the Maison Margiela Artisanal 2025 collection in person and shares his impressions.

Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela was like a gothic procession, a cathedral of veiled figures sculpted from Flemish memory and post-human fantasy. Set against a backdrop collaged with palatial interiors, the collection draws heavily on the architectural gravitas of Flanders and the Netherlands.

Silhouettes were grand and structural, with bodies sculpted through the use of corsetry, draping, and illusion. “Martens delivered a collection that honors Margiela’s spirit with remarkable mastery,” says Alexandre Dornellas, stylist and Vogue Philippines correspondent for the re-see. “The intentionally unfinished finishes were, paradoxically, flawless, as if every ‘imperfection’ was precisely where it needed to be.”

Masks enshrouded every face. Some were soldered metal, others thick with jewels or sculpted tulle, directly referencing Margiela’s 1989 debut but recast through the lens of The Last of Us or Silent Hill. “The silver masks… completely stole my heart,” Dornellas reflects. “Beautiful and enigmatic… I couldn’t help but wonder whether the models could actually see the runway or if they were walking guided solely by instinct.” The anonymity Margiela once used as a conceptual gesture now felt mythic, even monstrous, in an era of crime and surveillance.

Corsets formed the collection’s structural spine; double-layered, angular, and ‘doll-jointed,’ with jutting hips and sharply contoured ribs, reimagined the torso as sculpture. “Architectural and emotional all at once,” says Dornellas, evoking the influence of Mr. Pearl and the brand’s previous creative director John Galliano, not for seduction, but for constraint. These were garments of compression, shaping not just the body, but the atmosphere of our uncertain political times.

Materials told another story: scorched plastics, duchess satin, tulle, computer wires, deadstock jewelry, collaged wallpaper, and leather. The construction leaned towards the art movement of Arte Povera, but with studied control. “The mix of textures became a spectacle in itself,” Dornellas observes. “Plastic, leather, noble fabrics, and refined trimmings, all sewn together without ever losing the essence of the Maison.” Repurposing here was neither spontaneous nor crude, but ritualised and sacred.

Moments of softness arrived in the grand, crinkled gowns, chiffon shrouds with tight bodices, and a ‘Brat’ green closing look. They shimmered with lightness but were heavy with symbolism, alluding to Sanmartino’s Veiled Christ in their tension between transparency and solidity. “Being able to witness it all up close… made me fall even more in love with this collection,” Dornellas says. “Yes, Margiela remains my favorite.”

Martens’ debut doesn’t rewire Margiela, but reframes it.