Maison Martin Margiela, Couture, AW14, Paris.

With surreal embellished prawns and dresses covered in cut up cans and old coins, the Maison Martin Margiela couture collection was filled with bright and shiny details. Aside from these more superficial elements, there were also carefully considered construction details to provide cleaner lines in amongst the more outlandish garments.

A couple of the looks featured long streamlined trousers that appeared to be cut from plain white cotton and on closer inspection these appeared to be shaped using long centre front seams, rather than side seams, with a separate sole panel used to shape the cotton around the heels of the models. These white cotton “tights” were also seen in a knee high version throughout the rest of the collection. The use of white cotton is an unusual choice for this type of garment, which could have been more easily achieved in a knit fabric. The use of plain white cotton is possibly used as a reference to the white coats worn by couture “petite mains” and also worn by the Margiela workers».

Another interesting detail, which has also been seen in many collections over the past few seasons, was the armhole position used in several of the garments which brings the shoulder line further into the bodice. This creates the need for a fuller sleeve head pattern, which is sometimes achieved by using gathers along the top of the shoulder. Bringing the armhole in in this way creates the illusion of a narrower and straighter upper body section.

Images from Vogue.co.uk» and Style.com»