SCREEN SAVER: In lieu of showing a new collection during Paris Fashion Week, Maison Margiela hosted a premiere Monday night for “Nighthawk,” a documentary film with horror-movie segments that delves into how designer John Galliano created the hit 2024 Artisanal couture show, staged during couture week last January.
Daphne Guinness, Amanda Harlech, Renzo Rosso, French singer Lucky Love — and perhaps Galliano himself, Margiela reps teased — piled into the Cinema Balzac, whose plush red seats and red curtains were bathed in red light.
Settling into his seat, Broadway producer Jordan Roth adjusted his double-layer tulle gloves and described the spine-tingling experience of attending that Artisanal show.
“The world cracked open,” he enthused. “When you were watching, you knew this was a seminal fashion moment and you knew you were witnessing fashion history.”
The making of Maison Margiela Artisanal for spring 2024
A live string quartet cued up the film, directed by Sasha Kasiuha, who has created visuals for Tom Ford, Madonna and Blackpink’s Jennie, and about midway through, one of the fearsome male characters made a leap from screen to theater aisle, brandishing a pair of scissors behind his back and eventually stabbing one of the seats.
Listening to Galliano explain how he built up his characters in the acclaimed fashion show, which explored the after-dark revelers of Brassaï-era Paris, was gripping.
“Beautiful clothes take time to make,” he said. “Tailoring requires discipline and dedication.”
Indeed, working with a crew of muses, seamstresses and technicians, the British designer played scientist and artist to create the sensational clothes, which included delicate bias-cut dresses with silvery beads mounted at a 45-degree angle, and trenchcoats and skirts that convincingly evoke weathered cardboard.
Maison Margiela Couture Spring 2024
Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
A segment on the extreme corsets details how models received training on how to breathe wearing the constricting garments, which dig into the flesh.
Kim Kardashian, who sat front row at the original show, and Gwendoline Christie, who wore the rubbery closing look, made voiceover cameos, as does Pat McGrath, who created the shiny porcelain-doll makeup.
A lengthy segment compiling gleeful reactions from armchair Gen Z fashion fans spoiled the tense, mysterious mood cast by the rest of the film. It was partially restored in the final minutes devoted to scenes from the actual show, staged under the Alexandre III bridge on a drizzly evening.
The 2025 Artisanal collection already had a second viewing during Paris Fashion Week last March, when Maison Margiela mounted a special invitation as a “re-see” opportunity.
It is understood Maison Margiela plans to host additional screenings for “Nighthawk” in other cities.