Margiela tests new retail concept for MM6 at Printemps Haussmann in Paris

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Apr 15, 2019

Martin Margiela is testing a new concept for its diffusion line, MM6. It is an original retail setting, with the feel of an unfinished building site, recently unveiled at the label's 76-square-metre concession within the Haussmann branch of Parisian department store Printemps. The plan is to first deploy the new concept for MM6’s department store concessions, before a probable extension to its monobrand stores.

The concept’s originality lies in its makeshift look, obtained by utilising materials and components normally used on building sites, as though shoppers were taking a peek behind the scenes. Like for example the fitting room, at the back of the retail area, made of a stunning combination of bus bellows and parachute canvas walls.

The clothes racks are made with metal pipes, like those used for scaffolding, set into raw concrete blocks in the ground. The cinder-block and plasterboard walls are speckled with white markings, similar to the signs made by electricians on building sites. Another amusing detail is how the cash till and a large mirror are encased in pressed wood, as though they were still in their freight boxes.

“The furnishings are designed to have an anonymous look, the founding principle of Maison Margiela, and relate to mobility and recycling,” said the label in a press release, emphasising the concept’s “flexibility and rather understated feel, making it useful as a neutral platform, customisable for future pop-up structures.”

MM6 operates some twenty retail outlets worldwide, in Europe and Asia, with 10 monobrand stores and as many concessions. Contrary to the other collections overseen by John Galliano, MM6, first launched in 1997, is limited to womenswear and is designed by the internal creative team of Maison Margiela, the luxury label owned by OTB, Renzo Rosso’s fashion group.

MM6 usually presents its collections in London. Last February, it staged a major showcase in Milan, where it appeared for the first time to unveil the latest collection, with a spectacular presentation in the via della Spiga store, which for the occasion was entirely covered and padded in white wadding, from the walls to the lighting fixtures and the counter. At the event, the CEO of Maison Margiela, Riccardo Bellini, talked about “double-digit growth in all markets.”