Previewed as part of digital haute couture week, the Nick Knight-shot film sees the return of house muse – and internet sensation – Leon Dame
Last September, Germany model Leon Dame rocketed to internet fame after closing Maison Margiela’s Spring/Summer 2020 show with a distinctive strut. It was perhaps the season’s most talked-about moment – bar, perhaps, Jennifer Lopez’s appearance on the Versace runway in Milan the week prior. American Vogue said the young model, who is based in Berlin, had given “Paris Fashion Week its fiercest walk”, while Tom Rasmussen, writing for Dazed, called Dame “fashion’s new walking wonder”.
Now, on the occasion of digital haute couture week – which concludes this evening – Dame returns to the Maison Margiela runway, albeit in video form. Released as a preview of a longer film by renowned image-maker Nick Knight, the short clip sees Dame stride down the runway once more to an ominous string soundtrack, clad in a deconstructed jacket and Cordobès-style hat. In typical Knight style, colours are vivid: morphing tones of red, yellow and blue are akin to thermal imaging.
The video – which will be revealed in full on July 16, with further previews on July 11 and 15 – showcases the brand’s Artisanal Co-ed collection for Autumn/Winter 2020, its equivalent of haute couture. “Re-emergence calls for the illumination of values and intents: an elucidated approach,” Maison Margiela said of the project. “Invigorated by an air of transparency, creative director John Galliano will gradually uncover a new proposal for the house in a manifestation of clarity, interaction and inclusion.”
Watch the film below.
