MARGIELA'S NEW BOUTIQUE

 These are snaps of Maison Martin Margiela's MM6 boutique in the Takashimaya department store. Exemplary of the Maison's predilection for surrealism, the space is designed to be a fashionable take on public spaces.

NEW ARRIVALS - MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

Maison Martin Margiela - $1895

This clever blazer alternative from the Maison is a subtly fashion-forward choice. Using a micro-patterned wool, the Maison plays with tradition by taping the edges of the lapel in the same fabric, at a 45 degree angle. The effect is almost tuxedo-like - for anyone savvy enough to notice.

MARTIN MARGIELA S/S 2014 COLLECTION

New arrivals for men and women are coming in daily from our best designers - including the incredible designs of Maison Martin Margiela.  Check 'em out now!

NEW ARRIVALS - MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

Maison Martin Margiela - $1275

 One of the more unusual pieces we've come across in the last couple of years, this blouson short jacket by Maison Martin Margiela reverses completely, changing the look and feel of this suiting-inspired piece.

ROYAL'S PICK - MARTIN MARGIELA OUTERWEAR

Maison Martin Margiela - $1995

We get very jaded in the clothing industry...particularly when we talk about how $1995 is a 'great deal...' that said, I think for $1995, this is a LOT of coat. The leather details are interesting without being distracting, and the body of the coat is a very soft, unusual staple of cotton. It's weather resistant everywhere - even the leather - so it's quite practical for our climate, and unusually shapely for a piece in this category.  I would reach for this all the time when the weather turns. 

Royal Roles
Men's Luxury buyer

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING TONIGHT!?

New arrivals from Giorgio Armani and Maison Martin Margiela

Do you have the PERFECT outfit for New Years? Tell us about it - on facebook or in the comments section below!

If you DON'T have something spectacular to wear tonight, don't forget we're open until 6 and validate parking at the WAC garage  - let us give you a sparkling NY makeover.

New arrivals from John Varvatos and By Malene Birger

CHARLY'S PICK - MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA CONVERTIBLE

Maison Martin Margiela - $995

"This dress is so chic and so sleek - and just about the most perfect day-into-night dress I've seen. Pull the sleeves down your arm and belt it for a day look, and then tie the sleeves back and go sleeveless for evening!" 

Charly Locking
Sales Support

REASONS WHY YOU NEED THIS SWEATER

Intarsia-woven micro-pattern sweater - Maison Martin Margiela - $695

5 Reasons you need this sweater:

• Hey Sailor! You don't have to be in the Navy to be in love with navy blue.
• This micro-pattern is much more interesting than a solid. 
• Martin Margiela doesn't mess around - this guy's gonna last forever. 
• You can wear it when you meet Kanye West - it's his favorite brand. 
• You don't need to put this away when it gets warmer - wear it year round! 

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA HANDBAGS NOW 30% OFF!

Calfskin bags by Maison Martin Margiela - were $1795 each, now $1255

Whether you carry these for their chic, minimal look - or because they are the perfect size for a small netbook or tablet - these bags by Maison Martin Margiela are incredible additions to business and casual wardrobes both. Available in basic black and bordeaux (THE color of the season). While they last, enjoy a 30% discount to sweeten the deal!

CHRISTMAS WINDOWS

Outfits by John Varvatos

Outfits by Fuzzi and Maison Martin Margiela

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA CASHMERE

Maison Martin Margiela - $965

Good minimalist design is often a bit expensive, and our clients frequently wonder just what it is that makes a piece like the one above really worth what it costs.  A few helpful details, for the uninitiated:

• Maison Martin Margiela sources all their yarn from the best mills in Italy, including Zegna Baruffa for its ultrafine merino and Loro Piana for its 12 and 13 micron cashmere.  The best always costs a little more!
• Margiela's construction standards are of the very highest quality. Garments like this one are "Fully Fashioned" meaning they come off the knitting machine in one or two pieces, unlike cut-and-sewn sweaters which are made in small pieces and then sewn together later.  The 'Fully Fashioned' process takes more time, but results in a clean-laying garment that holds together much longer. 
• Margiela's product is deliberately produced in the smallest numbers possible - each garment is a limited edition.  Unlike huge mass-production, where every garment produced lowers the cost slightly, this small-batch attitude results in significant costs for the manufacturer. 
• Cost-per-wear on good minimalist design is surprisingly low, considering the initial price. When you have a garment for years to come (some of our clients still have favorite Butch Blum items from our opening in 1974) every time you wear it, the value gets better. Because it's extremely simple to begin with, you don't run into trend issues. 

Check out our favorites from the Maison this season, which include some of the best knitwear in our entire Fall 2013 collection.

KANYE WEST IN MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

We've featured Kanye on our blog before - he's a noted fan of Maison Martin Margiela, but the artist's devotion to the brand continues to surprise us. West arranged a partnership with the Maison to create all his stagewear for his current "Yeezus" tour.  When the house was asked by Vogue.com about his controversial nature, they responded:

"We didn't pay attention to what is being said about him in the press, we just focused on what could be done with him," Maison Martin Margiela told us. "We have wanted to work with Kanye West for a very long time, ever since he became a close friend of the Maison; supporting us a lot and coming to our shows. We like his music and the vision he had for the tour." 

While these outré stylings probably *WONT* be something you see in Butch Blum, we salute Kanye's willingness to wear the purest expression of one of our favorite house's vision. Come check out the Butch Blum side of Maison Martin Margiela - featuring an everyday wearable style that's still perfectly unique.

BELT/SCARF DETAILS BY MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA

Maison Martin Margiela...Sweater - $795, Dress - $995

Recently Mihyon shared her favorite Margiela dress with the blog-o-sphere, and with two more iterations of the same theme it's not hard to see why they're well loved by our staff! This yarn is outrageously soft, but not fuzzy - no pills here. These pieces do not wrinkle, and dress up or dress down

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA SPRING 2014

New arrivals for pre-Spring (resort season) are just starting to trickle in from the masters at Maison Martin Margiela. Look for clean, minimal tailoring with a play on proportion and subtle, surreal details - all hallmarks of the famed Maison.

CELEBRITY SIGHTING - RITA ORA IN MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA DEFILE'

British singer Rita Ora (now one of Karl Lagerfeld's favorite muses) shared this "selfie" at her hotel in Paris...a look pulled from Maison Martin Margiela's FW 2013 re-purposed couture collection. The coat she wears is a reimagined evening cape originally produced in the 1950's, and the mask is a prop in the original runway presentation. Who do YOU think wore it better? Ora, or the model in the runway show?

ROYAL ACADEMY OF FINE ART RETROSPECTIVE

The fashion department of the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts celebrates its 50th year this year, and to celebrate they have curated a special retrospective of their most famous graduates, including the famed "Antwerp Six" (Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, Marina Yee, Walter Van Beirendonk and Dirk Van Saene) as well as Maison Martin Margiela - often considered the unofficial "seventh member." 

We are thrilled for the Academy as well as for the many successful designers trained there - not least of all Martin Margiela, whose collections we are proud to feature in our current mix. Find some of our favorite pieces in store now! 

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA FW 13

Nailhead blazer with permanent stand-up collar - $1695
Weatherproof cotton moleskin jacket with leather accents - $1995

This season we found some of our favorite pieces ever from Maison Martin Margiela...beautiful Fall classics with that signature twists the Maison is famous for, like the permanently "popped" collar on this beautiful tweed blazer (notice please the working buttonholes on the sleeves) or the asymmetrical leather detailing on the field jacket.

CELEBRITY SIGHTING - LADY GAGA IN MARTIN MARGIELA

Lady Gaga wore (among some other incredible couture outfits) a Maison Martin Margiela Defilé jacket in her latest video "Applause." Styled with a one-of-a-kind mirror and safety-pin dress designed by her sister Nicole Germanotta, Lady Gaga perfectly exemplifies the Maison's eclectic approach to style.

Find some of our favorites from Maison Martin Margiela's collection in store now for Fall/Winter for men and women!

FALL'S LATEST AND GREATEST

Outfits by Maison Martin Margiela

Knit options for ladies are big this fall, and we've got a ton of them, particularly in these unique, innovative knit dresses by Maison Martin Margiela. Featuring full-fashioned cowl fronts and unusual belt/scarf details (take a close look, the ends of the scarves are banded like sleeves!) they're sure to expand your wardrobe options for Fall.

Outfits by Cantarelli and Luigi Bianchi

For men, Fall is all about the unstructured jacket. These aren't your dad's sport coat - they're softer, slimmer, and cooler during a changeable Seattle fall. Because they're constructed without Bemberg linings, the natural fibers breathe beautifully but still provide a subtle warmth on chilly days. The pricepoint is competitive too - none of Luigi Bianchi's "L.B.M." jackets retail over $1500, with most of them in the $795 territory.

DESIGNER BIO - MARTIN MARGIELA

The famous Margiela label. The number indicates the collection, in this case 14 - the luxury collection of menswear.

Belgian designer Martin Margiela is one of the world's most hermitic and mysterious fashion figures. He has never been photographed in either the fashion press or in-house publications, preferring to focus attention on the house itself. The designer refuses to grant personal interviews, instead conducting interviews by fax and signing "Maison Martin Margiela," exemplary of his holistic approach to fashion. There is frequently an air of surreal mystery in the collection, and slightly unnerving details like a buttonhole sewn closed, a tailored jacket without a breast pocket, a classic sweater shrunken or blown up to gigantic proportions.

Martin Margiela started his career in the early 1980's, working for Jean-Paul Gaultier before showing his first collection under his own name in 1989.  He is closely associated, though not officially a part of, the Antwerp Six - a group of designers from Antwerp, Belgium that showed their first collections in London in the 1980's. His unusual first collections heavily featured copies of vintage garments, so closely reproduced that the Margiela garment credits its country and year of origin on an unobtrusive tag inside. This practice still continues today, with inspiration as diverse as a French knitting bag from 1940, to an entire collection of clothes copied from Mattel's Barbie and Ken dolls, their proportions unchanged (even to the comparative size of snaps and velcro) for the actual person wearing them. This approach creates a timelessness to Margiela's clothing, adding to the investment value for the wearer.

What sets Maison Martin Margiela apart from other Avant-Garde designers is the brand's committment to wearability in everyday life. For every jacket made entirely from wigs there are ten beautiful basic jackets, featuring outrageously soft superfine wool or cashmere and innovative detail work. You can always find both the ridiculous and the sublime, courtesy of Martin Margiela and available at Butch Blum in Seattle - new arrivals for Fall/Winter 2013/14 in store now!