What to wear when the temperature makes you want to just shuck it all off?
As another heat wave roils through Paris, MM6 Maison Margiela offered its take on doing away with as many layers as possible.
On the one hand that meant taking scissors to the Paris-based brand’s typical playbook of staples, this time in summer-weight fabrics such as lightweight cottons, nylons and even suiting.
The creative collective’s “logic of alteration” came through in trompe-l’oeil constructions that hinted at layering, minus the bulk. On a blazer, the first layer of lapels was cut away; shorts and skirts came with a basque made of the waist band of a more casual option, and even pockets were removed to leave only their shadow behind.
Slashed-off sleeves did not go to waste, with MM6-typical zany takes. A pair of them became a top in the opening look, while half a dozen of them were stitched together into a crisp and lightweight shift dress that came later on.
On the other hand, volumes were rethought for heat, made to skim rather than cling with, say, panels spliced at the shoulders of a denim jacket to make them lightly balloon out for ease.
A strong ‘90s lingerie-dressing flavor emerged, filtered through a practical lens.
Off-the-shoulder dresses were constructed to look as if a second layer peeked out off-kilter, while accessories such as sheer mesh ballerinas and pumps telegraphed a near-barefoot effect.
If these lightweight layers left a razor-thin margin to enforce the Margiela-ness of it all, the ensemble had plenty of attractively viable options for when it’s too hot to even think about what to wear.
