Martin Margiela has always done things differently. In the era of high-octane colour, power proportions and statement shapes that defined 1980s fashion, the Belgian designer emerged onto the scene with an altogether different proposition. His deconstructionist vision and references from across time and place paved the way for a new chic, and his radical interpretation of what a fashion show could be – from the abandoned metro station staging of S/S 1992 to a 1989 presentation played out to a front row of local Paris kids – laid the blueprint for show as public spectacle.

Margiela may have stepped away from his brand in 2009, but he’s still doing things differently. In July, more than 200 pieces from his personal archive will go to auction, organised in Paris by Maurice Auction, in collaboration with London’s Kerry Taylor Auctions. This is the first time a living creator has directly collaborated with an auction house to offer their personal archive of clothing and designs (spanning 1984 to 2008 and including select pieces from the wardrobe of his late mother, Léa Bouchet).

In honour of this unprecedented moment in fashion history, Wallpaper* spoke with Salomé Pirson of Maurice Auction and Kerry Taylor Auctions’ Alex Baddeley about what we can expect to see when the gavel strikes.

A new auction sees Martin Margiela’s personal archive go up for sale

Martin Margiela is famously enigmatic and withdrawn from public life – what do you think the objects on sale reveal about their former owner?

Alex Baddeley: It’s the sale itself, rather than what is in it, that I think makes the biggest statement – Martin has always exhibited his works in a really unusual, radical way, and it’s quite fascinating that, 17 years after leaving his own brand, he has the creative imagination to engage the wider world in doing something unprecedented. Choosing to open up his own archive in this way almost feels like a performance – one that could only be performed by Martin.

What kind of people do you anticipate will be drawn to this auction?

AB: No doubt that the majority of the most important pieces will go to museum collections, but the scale and range of objects we have is very broad, and the beauty of an auction is that, in a way, it’s quite democratic. For a brand that was as ego-less as Maison Martin Margiela – you know, with its blank label – it’s a perfect fit. There are tiny objects and curios, ephemera really, that will attract individual collectors who just want to take home a piece of his incredible legacy, as well as the big institutions.