Abstraction is Maison Margiela’s word of the season. Margiela infused the abstract into every facet of the MM6 Autumn-Winter 2024 show. From a pillowcase that becomes a top– the print is a replica of the one found on pillows in the hotel where the MM6 team stays– to the plushness of the carpeted runway venue.

By subverting the literal with open-ended clothing, a jacket remains a jacket and a cardigan as a cardigan, yet they aren’t exactly as they should be. Every piece functions as itself, but the slight divergences in form add new meanings and capabilities. Slits under garments’ armholes allow arms to pass through, transforming a cardigan into a cape. Quilting migrates from the inside of a coat to the outside. Back pockets materialize on a pair of lurid leggings. A raincoat is washed in mustard-colored denim. This open-ended redefining of classic forms plays with texture and repeat pieces in different fabrications, reassessing and shifting their value. Length also becomes a point of redefinition in MM6. The length of a jacket is intentionally odd, blurring the lines between coat and dress. In contrast, a lining skirt gets chopped perilously short. Abstraction then becomes a relentless play between length and width as the pureness of geometric form breeds a radicality of silhouette.

MM6 moves beyond the idea of just abstraction and emphasizes the impression of being damned. Damned is raised shoulderlines for hunched postures. Damned is exponentially multiplying zippers. Damned is a concert graphic, repeatedly hammered from tailoring to underpinnings. Damned is outfits that are graphic like geometric statements and constructions of angles and straight lines. Damned is dressed in black. Camionneur cardigans, bodysuits, and key holder neck pendants nod to the history of Maison Margiela and accessories deepen the collection’s abstraction. Irregularly shaped boots take center stage with hand-drawn comic book feet. Fortune cookie and pillow bags mix with colored safety pins to secure Margiela’s damned abstractions.

In a surprise appearance, MM6 Maison Margiela and cult British footwear brand Dr. Martens also revealed a collaborative capsule collection featuring blunt grafts of boots and loafers.

Abstraction, finally, comes to a head in the suffused softness of the carpeted room where the runway show took place. Walls dematerialized by curtains and time felt suspended in an eerie calm, slashed harshly by a damned soundscore.