The Belgian masters of avant garde studied the art of elegance to the sounds of Johann Sebastian Bach
The Belgian masters of avant garde studied the art of elegance to the sounds of Johann Sebastian Bach
Always different, never boring… for its AW13 season soundtrack, Maison Martin Margiela remixed Johann Sebastian Bach. Rarely played in its ‘original’ edit at fashion week, DJ Spooky took on the German composer as the Maison continued its foray into effortless elegance. For the last few seasons, the Maison has masterminded its own resurgence – a renaissance if you like – of a look that is well known on the Parisian catwalks but still unique to Margiela. A natural sense of luxury was brought down to street level by an off-beat casting and the usual patchwork cardigans and reappropriated vintage pieces; capes in this instance. But while a remix Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variatio 1 A 1 played it was the tailoring, supported by turtlenecks, and fur details that impressed. In the end, for the grande finale (a poncho made up of vintage biker jackets), Plantains’ I Feel Love played, perfectly summing up the mood in the audience.
“The piece is a remix of what was essentially a 18th century Bach remix, then called variations. It’s a classical, melodic yet strong piece with a distinctive eerie tone due to the repetitive strings loop. This is extremely representative of the Maison. As always, most of our models were found during street castings. They were mainly bearded, with long flowing hair, manly and not particularly polished. Regular men from the street, raw, musicians. This first piece of music pleasantly contradicted our chosen male esthetic, albeit complementing their emotion.”
Listen to other tracks from the Maison Martin Margiela show on Port’s Soundcloud channel
