The first Maison Martin Margiela collection for Women was created for Spring-Summer 1989, shortly after the Maison was founded in 1988.
The Maison Martin Margiela has had a close relationship with Staff International since 1991, and this relationship has only been built on and deepened since.
1993 saw the first Maison Martin Margiela retrospective collection with its collection for Spring-Summer 1994 comprising a selection of the most prominent garments from the previous 10 seasons. The first solo Maison Martin Margiela exhibition was held in 1997 at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum. Its exhibit was executed in collaboration with a microbiologist and involved creating silhouettes of Maison Martin Margiela’s designs treated in bacterias and moulds.
Over its career, the Maison Martin Margiela has been honoured to be invited to express its work in many of the world’s foremost museums.

Garments for ♀ ‘6’, the forerunner to today’s MM6, was first introduced in October 1997 and it was at this stage that the Maison’s infamous and respected blank white rectangular label was first adapted to incorporate the numbers 0 to 23. The digit encircled on the label denotes the collection the garment is part of. The first Maison Martin Margiela’s collection for men followed shortly in 1998, for spring summer 1999.

Today Maison Martin Margiela creates all of its designs (apart from its work on its artisanal collections for men and women) in collaboration with Staff International, ‘0’ (white label), the collection for women, ‘10’ the collection for men, ‘4’ a wardrobe for women with ‘14’, its counterpart for men, MM6 garments for women, ‘11’ accessories, ‘22’ shoes (each for women and men). The Maison remains based in Paris having moved to a new location at a former school of industrial design in 2005. Its team comprises 16 of the world’s nationalities.