An Omotesando gallery turns archive Margiela and McQueen into a try-on, buy-it exhibition
A ticketed, appointment-only show at tHE GALLERY OMOTESANDO lets visitors handle, try on and photograph archive pieces from Maison Margiela, Alexander McQueen and other houses through 13 September — and, for a lottery-selected few, buy them.
tHE GALLERY OMOTESANDO, a gallery space in Tokyo's Jingumae district run by tHE GALLERY HARAJUKU Co., Ltd., is holding a ticketed exhibition through 13 September that lets visitors view, try on, photograph and, for a selection of pieces, enter a lottery to buy garments from the archives of Maison Margiela, Alexander McQueen, Jean Paul Gaultier and other design houses, according to the operator's own announcement. The show, titled "Reza to Mōdo no Yukue-ten" (loosely, where leather and fashion are headed), runs from 4 to 13 September, closed on 7 and 8 September, with the final day's viewing ending at 4:30pm. Entry costs ¥1,100 including tax, booked in advance for one of five one-hour slots a day, at noon, 1:30pm, 3pm, 4:30pm or 6pm.
The lineup spans archive pieces from Maison Margiela, Alexander McQueen, Jean Paul Gaultier's womenswear, menswear and Fleur lines, Celine, Comme des Garçons, Number (N)ine, Undercover, Yohji Yamamoto Pour Homme and Issey Miyake Men, the release said, alongside Saint Laurent pieces contributed as a guest appearance by Shingo Aiba, a former Saint Laurent designer now working as an artist. Some garments can be tried on and photographed; a selection is open to a lottery-based purchase, and others are display-only, according to the announcement.
Letting a paying visitor handle, wear and photograph a runway-era Margiela or McQueen piece, rather than view it behind glass, sits between a museum retrospective and a resale shop: it monetises the same archive-fashion interest that has also put a dedicated Hermès resale boutique in Aoyama, while keeping the theatre of a show — timed entry, a photo opportunity — instead of a straightforward walk-in sale. Whether the lottery-purchase pieces move in anything like the volume a resale business would need, or whether the ticket itself is the real product, is not something the announcement addresses.