The MM6 collective went all out for its showcase as this season’s Guest Designer at Pitti Uomo in Florence. If they were feeling the pressure that comes with presenting in a city known as “the fashion capital of dressy menswear,” as they admitted backstage, what might have made them more self-conscious was knowing they would be measured against Martin Margiela’s memorable Pitti collection at Teatro Puccini. That fall 2006 show rendered all in white, with models arriving in limos or on Vespas, and entering through the theater’s main entrance before lining up on stage, then making their way down into the onlooking crowd.
Set at dusk in the Tepidarium del Roster—a grand glass hothouse built in the late 19th century within Florence’s Giardino dell’Orticoltura—this nearly all-black show starkly contrasted with its venue’s whimsical Art Nouveau architecture. It also served as a counterpoint, and perhaps an unsentimental yet elegant homage, to Margiela’s all-white situationist outing 19 years ago. Models walked along an elevated platform before mingling with the audience after the show’s finale.
The collection unfolded as a sleek, sophisticated, and sensual reinterpretation of classic menswear tropes, described by the collective’s spokesperson as “suggestive of different shades of masculinity.” Marking the first full MM6 men’s show, the clothes reimagined traditional masculine archetypes with a distinct Margiela twist. Linen was coated and rubberized to mimic black leather; a tuxedo suit was crafted in tinsel-y turquoise lurex tearing open at the seams (“precious but also fucked up”), and black denim was airbrushed to give the effect of being lit sideways by a fading spotlight. These theatrical touches also nodded to the stylish stage persona of Miles Davis, whose vast, fastidiously curated wardrobe was featured on the team’s moodboard.
The collection carried a charged undercurrent of kink, apparently inspired by Venus in Fur, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s infamous novella about the interplay of submission and domination, fittingly set in Florence. The city, as described by the design team’s spokesperson, is pervaded by “a tension between the sublime and the ugly,” a tonal, raw sexual energy that was subtly imbued within the collection via slender leather whips dangling from trouser sides, tight black chiffon neckties secured with mean leather straps, and occasional tufts of femme faux-mink. Completing the picture, the rather apropos soundtrack featured Pulp’s “This is Hardcore.” All in all, this was a glossier take on Margiela’s industrial edge, brimming with a confident sexy cool.
