hiPop I hip. I Pop. I op.

Nekada je bilo četiri bela šava. Klimanje glavom kao znak prepoznavanja, i topli osećaj pripadanja, srodne duše. Ništa patetično, samo - great minds thinks alike. Blank etikete, za ljude koji su odbijali da budu besplatne hodajuće reklame. Martin Margiela je u svom Maisonu pravio modu za odabrane. Ne u onom ružnom, elitističkom smislu, gde je bitna količina novca i ono što se njime može kupiti, već u smislu razumevanja. Margiela je modu pravio za ljude koji razumeju, i nije mu bila bitna niti većina, niti velike cifre. Moda je uvek bila ispred i iznad svega - u svojoj daftpunkovskoj tajanstvenosti odbijao je da se fotografiše, a na intervjue odgovarao isključivo faksom i uvek u množini. Kolektivno je oduvek bilo ispred individualnog, zato su svi zaposleni u Maison Martin Margiela, od stažista do glavnih dizajnera, nosili bele laboratorijske mantile. Bez vrištećih logoa, bez putokaza, uvek namerno malo skrajnuti, Margielini butici bili su za odabrane. Ovaj past tense je tu jer MMM odavno više nije to, još od kada ga je kupio kapitalistički bauk Renzo Rosso 2002. godine, da bi Martin Margiela svoje finalno au revoir rekao nekoliko godina kasnije. Renzo Rosso stavio je profit ispred elitizma -  sa ambicijama da MMM pretvori u hoch varijantu Diesela, stigle su svetleće reklame, veća eksponiranost u medijima, i uopšte veći krug ljudi koji znaju šta tri magična slova M znače. Margiela se više nije pisalo pank, već pop. Što je savršeno u redu. I sad bi bilo jako lako (i očekivano) hejtovati MMM, da kod njih Tim ne dolazi ispred kulta ličnosti i pojedinca, makar to bio i lično g-din Margiela. Želim da verujem da se Maison Martin Margiela (i dalje) piše u množini!

Zaustavite me, molim vas, ja bih ovo ljubavno pismo Margieli mogla večno da pišem :)

Da li je onda MMM dotakao svoje dno, tačku najviše udaljenu od sopstvene suštine, kroz ovu H&M kolaboraciju (kako je super što i sama reč kolaboracija ima prizvuk saradnje sa neprijateljem)? No, bila bih licemerni snob (i to lažni), kada bih rekla da mi smeta što mi je H&M dao mogućnost da kupim neke MMM klasike po relativno prihvatljivim cenama. Istini za volju, da kojim slučajem ne živim u ovoj banani od države u kojoj nema H&M-a, verovatno bih čekajući u redu da kupim Margielu sa jednom nulom manje poželela da izudaram famoznim štiklama od pleksiglasa gomilu ljudi koji ne razumeju. Nisam snob, samo na pitanje ko mi je omiljeni dizajner oduvek odgovaram isto. Tako sam pre koju godinu Tamari, na pitanje šta želi da mi donese kao poklon iz Njujorka, dala uputstva da ode u Century 21 (treš robna kuća u kojoj je atmosfera kao u Robnim Kućama Beograd circa 1983. - sa sve ljubičastima mantilima - ali zato su cene dizajnerskih komada dolarski dvocifrene:) i kupi mi bilo šta sa belom etiketom. Ne što bolujem od brendova, nego zato što znam da kod MMM nema greške.  I nije bilo, a dok čekate neki od narednih postova sa Margielom iz 2006., ja zahvaljujući divnoj Borjani željno iščekujem da mi stigne moj low-cost MMM! Toliko o snobizmu :)

It used to be four white stitches. A friendly nod, as a sign of belonging and understanding, a newly found soulmate. Great minds think alike. Blank labels, for people who refused to walk around as free billboards. In his Maison, Margiela made fashion for the chosen ones. Not in the ugly, money can buy elitistic sense of word, but the chosen ones were the ones who could understand. Margiela never cared about big numbers, nor about big masses. Fashion has always been above and beyond everything - in his daftpunk-ish sense of secrecy he refused any photos, and always replied to interviews by fax and in plural. Collective always came before individual and that's why all the employees at Maison, from interns to chief designers, wore white lab coats. No big logos (or logos at all), no directions, Margiela's stores were always for the chosen few. The past tense is here because MMM has not been like this for quite a long time now, since it has been acquired by the capitalist boogie man Renzo Rosso in 2002, only for Martin Margiela to say his final au revoir couple of years later. Renzo Rosso put profit before elitism - it might be his ambitions to turn MMM into a hoch version of his Diesel brand, but along with shiny logos and more media presence, more people got to know the meaning of those magical triple M's. Margiela is no longer spelled punk, but pop. Which is perfectly all right. And although it would be so easy (and expected) to hate MMM, the Team always comes before an individual at the Maison, even if that individual is Mr. Margiela personally. I want to believe that MMM is still written in plural!

Somebody please stop me, I could write this love letter to Margiela forever!

So, have MMM touched the rock bottom with this H&M collaboration (I love how even the word itself has this feel of sleeping with the enemy :), being at the point furthest away from their very substance? I would be a snobbish hypocrite to protest against H&M giving me a chance to afford some Margiela classics. Well, honestly, if I wasn't living in this sh***y country with no H&M, I would probably have the urge to beat some people that don't understand with the famous perspex wedges while waiting in line for MMM for H&M sale to start. I'm not a snob, I have simply answered the favorite designer question the same way since forever. When my friend Tamara asked what I wanted as a present from New York, I directed her to Century 21 department store and said 'anything Margiela'. Not because I'm obsessed with brands or designers, but because I knew I couldn't go wrong with MMM. And while you wait for the post featuring my 2006 Margiela, I'm anxiously waiting for my low-cost Margiela package to arrive, thanks to lovely Borjana. So much for being snobbish :)

all photos via mmm // Google image search