We love Martin Margiela shoes, and have collected several pairs over the years – but they can get pricey, and they don’t get very marked down when they actually do go on sale. However, Margiela has a less pricey line of shoes and clothes called MM6 (used to be called Line 6), and there are two particularly cool pairs of shoes for fall that have strong structural molded looks – and are new enough looking to change an outfit’s aesthetic. We really like this MM6 black bootie with a curved ankle – and this brown t-strap to wear with black. The brown is particularly hot this season. They are at Satine now, 8117 West 3rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90048 (323) 655-2142. – Merle Ginsberg

The mythology surrounding the avant garde Belgian-Paris brand Martin Margiela (sold at Barneys and Fred Segal, and their freestanding store is at 9970 South Santa Monica Blvd in BH) is long and winding. The MMM brand is now owned by Diesel, but since the early nineties. when Monsieur Margiela himself came onto the scene, showing in Paris, he’s never allowed his picture to be taken, and rumours abound that he may not even design the brand anymore. No matter. The brand’s clothes for men and women, their shoes, jewelry, etc, continue to sell very well and remain coveted to that specific avant garde customer around the world. We just received an invite from BH’s Maison Martin Margiela, which says it will introduce the first fragrance of the brand in an event in the BH store (9970 Santa Monica Blvd, near the Peninsula) on Thursday April 15th, from 7 to 9pm.
We took to the internet to learn more about the mysterious juice or fragance:
It’s apparently titled ‘untitled.’ A very simple bottle on the outside, a complex mix of scents on the inside, with notes ‘Galbanum, box green, lentiscus, incense, bitter orange.’ This is pretty hard to imagine the scent of – but no doubt it will be much like one of those strange and awesome Commes des Garcons fragrances. And since the whole brand of Margiela is so much MORE mysterious than even Commes des Garcons, we can’t wait to smell this. Those of us who are rare perfume junkies will no doubt spring for this. – Merle Ginsberg

There are not a lot of sample sales for pieces from Martin Margiela’s amazing collections – unless you live in NY or Paris. But starting tomorrow, Tuesday May 19, and running Wednesday May 20 and Thursday May 21, there is a sample sale downtown at the Cooper Building Lobby F, 860, South Los Angeles Street, from 10 AM to 7 PM for those three days.

They are taking cash, Mastercard, Visa and Amex, and will sell, along with Margiela, pieces from Sophia Kokosalaki, and DSquared mens and women’s clothes. It’s worth a mapquest and a long drive! Margiela is expensive – and also, beyond trends. His often-eccentric, and very beautiful, pieces are worth owning if you can grab them greatly reduced.

Seems like there’ve been a lot of sales lately, right? Well, think of it as the fashionista stimulus package!
This one – Satuday May 2 at 9 am, and Sunday May 3 starting at 11 am – both days running all day – is at the home of writer and tv personality Janet Charlton (janetcharlton.com) in Hancock Park, at Third Street and Rossmore (300 s. Rossmore). She will be selling vintage clothing by Martin Margiela, Ann Demuelemeester and other vant gardists – vintage accessories, mid century furniture, glasses, ephemera, even classic magazines from the fifties. You will not believe the crazy stuff Janet – a total vintage enthusiast – has accumulated over the years! No rsvp necessary, just show up. And the prices start good and get increasingly more negotiable as the day goes on.

If you’ve always wanted to dress like a girl in a groovy New York art band – like Nico in the Velvet Underground or Kim Gordon in Sonic Youth – you don’t have to buy Marc Jacobs or Luella Bartley or Martin Margiela to do it. Kim Gordon, noted singer and guitarist of Sonic Youth – and also an artist and downtown Manhattan fashionista (she’s always in the front row of Marc Jacobs’ shows and is a big influence on his style) – has created a collection of affordable clothing for Urban Outfitters and Urbanoutfitters.com. It’s called Mirror/Dash, also the name of a musical side project she does with longtime partner Thurston Moore (these two have been a downtown NY “item” for about 25 years!), and it includes snap jackets, cool short skirts, dresses – all influenced by Francoise Hardy, who was the Dusty Springfield or Duffy of France in the sixties. She was beautiful, natural and super cool – very Jane Fonda in her simplicity, and Nico in her coolness. The pieces all are priced within the range of about $90.00 and lower (the skirt’s $68.00), and there’s a short video interview with Kim on Urbanoutfitters.com that’s very fun.

Lots of celebrities have had clothing lines – but few of them have the art crowd/downtown cred of Kim Gordon. Check it ut. 

We know how you love your Manolo’s, Louboutin’s, YSL shoes, Helmut Lang’s and – hello, Alaia shoes! Well, since the sales this Thanksgiving were so early and extreme, it’s hard to find any good shoes left in the stores, on sale – no joke, we’ve looked. But if you want to find a cache of great designer shoes on sale, and you happen to be a lucky size eight or eight and a half, check out Resurrection’s website, http://www.resurrectionvintage.com/. Both their LA and NY boutiques are displaying an enormous collection of designer shoes, barely worn or never worn, from the collection of Marcia Berger. She was an illusive fashion devotee, who after her death, left behind a collection of over 3,000 clothing pieces by Rick Owens, Romeo Gigli, Yohji Yamamoto, Helmug Lang, Commes des Garcons, Martin Margiela, etc. Resurrection will be selling off her collection of incredible shoes between December 4 and January 4 – and the prices are around half of the original, although some of the never worn Louboutins are running about $500.00. Check out the site and the stores – and we envy you size 8 and 8 1/2′s out there. – Merle Ginsberg

If you weren’t one of the many who flocked to see the vampire movie “Twilight” this weekend – well, you were one of the few. The movie opened at 70 million dollars opening weekend in the U.S., which makes it more than a passing phenomenon. And what effect does it have on the fashion business? Well, between the film of “Twilight” – and the rest of author Stephanie Meyer’s vampire book series, and the HBO vampy series “True Blood,” it looks like vampires are a big pop culture movement – among the 20 year old set, anyway.

Which brings us to the point – the heavily grey washed out palette of the costumes of “Twilight” – directed by costume supervisor Dana Kay Hart (who has worked on tv series like “My Own Worst Enemy,” “The Shield,” “Shark,” and movies such as “The Great Debaters” and “Talledega Nights” – is something we’re already seeing this fall. Hart also worked in black and white in the wardrobe – because they are colors of evil and good, of course – and the movie is a dramatic pastiche where the only real color turns up in peoples’ lips – and in blood, of course. It makes the characters all the more ghostly and apocalyptic – and of course, L.A. Goths adopted the palette of black, grey and white eons ago – and if  you look at the palettes of many collections by Martin Margiela, Ann Demuelemeester and Rick Owens – the gothiest of the great fashion designers – you’ll seem the same neutral tones. Which is interesting because trend reports predicted that the colors of this fall season would be purple, violet, pink and green. Only green actually received that honor – and it was always mixed with black, grey and white. Does this reliance on good old goth colors have anything to do with vampires in pop culture – or is it about staying gothily safe (and venerably cool) in this economy?

Either way, it’s all anyone ever seems to wear, no matter what season, what movies are hot, and what season it is – twilight or dawn. 

She is the chic queen of St. Germaine, and she invented the look of the left bank of Paris that became famous all over the world. Sonia Rykiel, with her crinkled rust colored leontine mane of hair and stark black clothes, is the Coco Chanel of her time – making black and white striped sailor tops with black trousers a must-have look for ladies, and making all kinds of knitwear – particularly her famous striped sweaters – de riguer for chic women.

Rykiel has always espoused a unique look: very feminine, very artsy, very individualized. Her models have often worn big floppy hats or berets, and she made the soft flowing black suit a uniforn of Parisian women. No, her name’s never been as big as Dior or Armani or Versace – but Madame Rykiel has always danced to the sound of her own drummer. Her knitwear has always sold well, and in the last decade, both her studded handbags and great shoes have done well at international retail – as have her perfumes.

At her 40th anniversary show in Paris this week, she scored a total triumph with her largest number amount of pieces ever.

Ruffled blouses in yellows and oranges and fuscias, shown with black silk pencil skirts – striped see-through dresses – striped and tiered gowns in violet and blush pink – and afterwards, her daughter Nathalie presented her with a surprise: a small collection of “Sonia like looks” by major designers, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Martin Margiela, Narciso Rodriguez, Ralph Lauren, Missoni, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, Armani and Valentino. 

The audience, which include Jean Paul Gaultier, tossed flowers onto the runway, and the models – in berets or top hats – danced down the runway with total joyful abandon.

Rykiel gave an interview to WWD this week and said some fabulous things – not unusual for Madame.. Here are some highlights that inspire us here at Fashionrules.com:

SONIA RYKIEL ON HER FORTY YEARS IN FASHION:

ON HOW SHE STARTED HER CAREER IN 1968: “I was supposed to be a mother, like my mother, who didn’t work. Then I wanted a maternity dress and I couldn’t find anything I liked. Everything was abominable. So I made one. Then I made a pullover. Elle put it on the cover. Then WWD elected me the queen of knitwear.

ON ALTERNATE CAREERS SHE COULD HAVE HAD: “I could have been a writer – which I am. I could have been an actress – which I am. I could have been a sculptor or an artist.

ON FINDING SUCCESS EASILY: “I didn’t listen to anyone, because I didn’t know anything. People loved me or hated me. Those who loved me, loved me a lot. The others, I didn’t bother with them very much.”

ON WHOM SHE WANTED TO DRESS: “I’ve never been interested in dressing one woman. What’s interested me was to have a philosophy. I wanted to dress women who wanted to look at themselves. To stand out. To be women who were not part of the crowd. A woman who fights and advances.”

ON WHAT INSPIRES HER: “I’m inspired by words. The first word I put on a sweater was ‘sensuous’ because WWD elected me one of the most sensuous women in the world. We sold so many of those sweaters. Writing on a sweater is so beautiful.”

Martin Margiela never follows ANY rules – even his own for usually oversized baggy looks.