Martin Margiela auction reaches 1.39 million euros

Paris - After a career spent scrupulously avoiding being photographed, Belgian fashion star Martin Margiela auctioned off part of his personal archives on Thursday, fetching over one million euros.

Fans of the 69-year-old pioneer, who retired in 2009, had the opportunity to acquire items ranging from sketches to one of his signature white work coats at a sale in Paris that Margiela personally supervised.

The sale of the 195-piece collection reached 1.39 million euros, with strong representation from buyers from Japan, South Korea and China, according to Maurice Auction, which organised the auction in collaboration with Kerry Taylor Auctions.

A pair of graffiti-covered Tabi boots from 1991 was the most expensive item, selling for 364,000 euros.

The collection also included a prototype of one of the face masks he required models to wear, ensuring focus remained on the clothes. It also featured Barbie dolls used as mannequins and Hermès pieces designed during his tenure as creative director at the French house from 1997 to 2003.

"I felt it was time to part with some of my fashion-related memories," the designer explained before the sale.

"Martin Margiela has no heir and, in a way, by organising this sale, he is settling the question of his succession himself by putting all potentially interested buyers in competition," auctioneer Salome Pirson explained to AFP.

The designer was very rarely photographed and never gave media interviews. He also always refrained from the customary practice, adopted by most of his peers, of taking a bow at the end of a show.

In a rare effort to connect with his admirers, he collaborated on a retrospective of his work presented at the Palais Galliera museum in Paris in 2018.