In today’s crowded fashion landscape, designers at leading luxury fashion houses have to wear many different hats. They need to set trends and ignite fresh ideas on the catwalk, appeal to the demands of their spending couture clientele, create and sell products on a more mainstream level. All the while, they have to also stay relevant by dressing celebrities for the red carpets, crafting relationships with buzzy brand ambassadors, and conceptualizing pop culture-shaking campaigns that make fashion-as-entertainment. It’s a tall order, though there’s a set few that have consistently bucked the trend. Some labels, like Maison Margiela, have succeeded by simply marching to the beat of their own drum.
Since founding his namesake brand in 1988, Martin Margiela was notoriously press shy and very much anti-celebrity dressing, having once said, “We have nothing at all against celebrity, but just not for us! To each his own.” Despite the enduringly low-profile spirit of the brand—and Margiela’s exit in 2009—the intrigue and interest around Margiela designs have persisted—even as successors like John Galliano and, now, Glenn Martens, have taken over the creative reigns.
Then, just this week, a new fall 2025 campaign was released starring Miley Cyrus—its first-ever campaign featuring a celebrity at the forefront, shot by Paolo Roversi. Cyrus has long incorporated the brand into her wardrobe, on album promo circuits, to the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party, and at the Grammys.
“The American artist is captured in a new light, stripped-back and immersed in the core codes and archetypal expressions of the maison,” said the house in a press statement. “Some images portray the artist in a state of undress, her body painted white in homage to the maison’s white-overpaint bianchetto technique introduced in 1989.”
Swiftly following that came the 2025 Venice Film Festival. And it became clear that we’re witnessing a new chapter for the label—one in which Margiela is finally going all-in on splashy red carpet dressing.
At the premiere of Father Mother Sister Brother in Venice, for one, Cate Blanchett took to the step and repeat in a feathered-skirt look from Margiela’s fall 2025 couture collection, which marked Marten’s debut. The dark, romantic ensemble evoked all of the necessary drama and statement that a Venice red carpet look demands. It wasn’t the only Margiela look to grace the festival this week, either. A few days prior, Kim Kardashian attended the DVF Awards in the city wearing a monochromatic gray, caped look from the very same collection. It was dynamic and sweeping, as she stepped off of her water taxi.
Margiela has, of course, done red carpet looks. Stars like Kardashian, Gwendoline Christie, and Zendaya have donned custom Margiela designs to the Met Gala. But when it comes to awards season and Hollywood events, this is still very much new territory for Margiela—and two such major moments at Venice, in a singular week, felt very much like a declaration.
Could this mean that the Oscars, the Golden Globes, or the forthcoming Emmys in September will see more Margiela creations make their way down the Hollywood carpets? It would be a welcome addition to the mix the usual suspects like Dior, Armani, and Gucci—all of whom have made celebrity dressing a substantial portion of their businesses. And if you think about it, Margiela fills the void in the style arena, creating hauntingly-chic gowns that are glamorous in more subversive ways. You simply will never find Martens creating a standard sequin gown or too-safe suit—and that energy is always welcomed on the celebrity circuit.
