Who Is Martin Margiela? The Designer, the House and Why He Disappeared

Martin Margiela is the Belgian designer who founded Maison Margiela in Paris in 1988 and then, 20 years later, simply stopped. He never gave a face-to-face interview, was almost never photographed and signed his work as a collective “we”. The house he built still runs on his ideas: the four white stitches, the blank label, the split-toe Tabi and clothes that show how they were made. Coveti carries the current women’s ready-to-wear in the Maison Margiela collection.

Quick answer

• Who: Martin Margiela, born in 1957 in Genk, Belgium, and trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
• What: founder of Maison Margiela, launched in 1988 with his business partner Jenny Meirens.
• Known for: anonymity, deconstruction, recycled and remade garments, the Tabi boot and the four white stitches.
• Today: he left the house in 2009 and now works as an artist. Glenn Martens has designed Maison Margiela since 2025.

Antwerp, Gaultier and the first show

Margiela studied fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, finishing in 1979, a year before the group of graduates later called the Antwerp Six. After a few years of freelance work he moved to Paris and became a design assistant to Jean Paul Gaultier, staying until 1987. In 1988 he set up his own label with Jenny Meirens, who had run a designer boutique in Brussels. Their first show, for Spring Summer 1989, put models in split-toe Tabi boots that had been dipped in red paint, so they left footprints across the white runway cloth. Read more about the Antwerp Six and Margiela.

Why Martin Margiela stayed anonymous

From the start, Margiela kept himself out of the story. He answered questions by fax, spoke for the studio as “we” and sent models out with their faces veiled, blindfolded and covered by hair. Even the label was blank: a plain white tag held on by four white stitches, which customers often cut off. The point was that the clothes should speak, and that a garment did not need a famous name inside it. That decision made the label instantly recognisable anyway, and the stitches are now one of the best-known marks in fashion. See our guide to the four stitches and the numbered label.

The ideas he left behind

• Deconstruction: exposed seams, raw hems, linings worn on the outside and tailoring opened up to show its canvas.
• Remade garments: the Artisanal line turned army socks, old gloves, flea-market dresses and plastic bags into new pieces by hand.
• Replica: exact copies of found vintage garments, labelled with where and when the original came from. The same idea later named the fragrance line.
• Oversize and trompe l’oeil: garments scaled up to giant sizes, and prints of one garment on another.

Many of these techniques are still in the collection. This season’s Collarless Denim Jacket in Blue uses decortique detailing, and the Bianchetto Double-Breasted Wool Blazer is hand-painted white. Our guide to Margiela techniques explains each one.

Hermès, 1997 to 2003

While running his own house, Margiela was also creative director of women’s ready-to-wear at Hermès from 1997 to 2003. His Hermès work was quiet and luxurious: double-faced cashmere, wrap coats and wide trousers with no visible branding. The contrast with his own experimental shows surprised people at the time, and the Hermès years are now collected as seriously as his own label.

OTB, 2009 and after

The Italian group OTB, led by Diesel founder Renzo Rosso, became the majority owner in 2002 and took full control in 2006. Margiela left in 2009 without a farewell show, and the studio carried on as a design team. In 2014 OTB appointed John Galliano, who stayed for ten years, and the house dropped “Martin” from its name in 2015. Glenn Martens took over in January 2025. Martin Margiela has since worked as an artist, with a first solo exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris in 2021, and he appears, without showing his face, in the 2019 documentary Martin Margiela: In His Own Words. Read about Glenn Martens at Maison Margiela.

Is Maison Margiela a French brand?

Maison Margiela is a French house: it was founded in Paris, its studio is in Paris and it shows at Paris Fashion Week. Its owner, OTB, is Italian, and most of its ready-to-wear is made in Italy. That is why some answers online call it an Italian fashion house. Of the 221 Maison Margiela pieces Coveti is adding this season, 202 are labelled Made in Italy and 5 Made in France.

How to wear Martin Margiela’s ideas today

The easiest way in is a piece that carries one idea clearly. A numeric cotton jersey T-shirt carries the label numbers, a crisp cotton shirt carries the four stitches, and a collarless virgin wool coat with raw seams carries the deconstruction. Build from there with plain trousers and flat shoes. More in our Autumn Winter 2026 edit.

Maison Margiela at a glance

Frequently asked questions

Who is Martin Margiela?

Martin Margiela is a Belgian fashion designer, born in 1957 in Genk, who founded Maison Margiela in Paris in 1988. He was known for refusing to be photographed and for deconstructed clothes. He left the house in 2009.

Why did Martin Margiela leave his brand?

He has said very little about it in public. He left in 2009, seven years after OTB became majority owner, and the studio continued as a design team until John Galliano arrived in 2014.

What does Martin Margiela look like?

Very few photographs of him exist, because he refused press portraits throughout his career. In his 2019 documentary only his hands are shown.

Who owns Maison Margiela?

OTB, the Italian group founded by Renzo Rosso, owns Maison Margiela. It became the majority owner in 2002 and took full control in 2006.

Who designs Maison Margiela now?

Glenn Martens has been creative director since January 2025. He followed John Galliano, who led the house from 2014 to 2024.

Is Martin Margiela one of the Antwerp Six?

No. He studied at the same Antwerp academy and finished a year earlier, so he is often linked to the group, but the Antwerp Six were six other designers.

Read next: Glenn Martens at Maison Margiela, the four stitches explained, Margiela and the Antwerp Six.