#給＿＿的情書：Yours sincerely, Jesse Brouns/ 時裝記者

親愛的Martin Margiela：

我是在你的神話氛圍籠罩下成長的，雖然我從未見過你。布魯塞爾的荷蘭語社區聯繫非常緊密，很自然地，我的家人一早就認識 Jenny Meirens 和她的親友。當珍妮關閉她在布魯塞爾的Comme des Garçons店（一項建築奇蹟，全店都是玻璃和混凝土），去領導巴黎的 Maison Martin Margiela 時，我們都看到，迷人的比利時時尚，突然變成了現實。

當我自己在90年代初搬到巴黎的時候，我一位最好朋友，和 Jenny 的兒子約會，早期我去過的時裝騷，正有你們的份兒，是在一個廢棄的超市裡（那年十二歲，我看的第一場騷是Yohji Yamamoto和Comme des Garçons，也是由Jenny Meirens帶到布魯塞爾）。跟其他人一樣，我仰慕看着你如何改變了時尚，以及如何保持着影響力。僅舉最顯而易見的例子：Vetements揀選出Maison Martin Margiela最精采的部分，放諸今天仍然非常相關與合時。

與此同時，你已屬於歷史。你最後一次出色表現可能是將你獨立、前衛的時裝屋賣給意大利人。此後某個時候，你離開了。秘密地。由於您將Maison Martin Margiela當作一個公社般看待 – 通過傳真機匿名接受採訪 – 這個品牌仍然很重要，直到某天戛然而止。另一方面，你依然是一個傳奇。我們現在看你的作品，了解你對時尚的看法、你的衣服，早已有特定理解及共識 – 不再是商店櫥窗，而是在博物館玻璃之後。

你最忠誠的，

Jesse Brouns

Dear Martin Margiela,

I grew up surrounded by your myth but I don’t think I have ever met you. The Dutch-speaking community in Brussels is tight-knit, and so it was almost natural that my family would be acquainted, from rather afar, with Jenny Meirens and her family. When Jenny closed her Comme des Garçons shop in Brussels (an architectural marvel, all glass and concrete) to head up Maison Martin Margiela in Paris, we all watched, enthralled, how Belgian fashion suddenly became a tangible reality.

When I myself moved to Paris in the early 1990s, one of my best friends was dating Jenny’s son, and one of the first fashion shows I went to was one of yours, in an abandoned supermarket (my very first shows, when i was about twelve, were Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garçons, brought to Brussels by Jenny Meirens). Like almost everyone else, I admire how you have changed fashion, and how you have remained influential. Vêtements, to name only the most obvious example, took all that was great about Maison Martin Margiela, and made it relevant for now.

Meanwhile, you belong to history. Your last great act might have been the sale of your fiercely independent, avant garde Maison to the Italians. Sometime after that, you left. Discreetly. Since you built up Maison Martin Margiela as a commune of sorts — conducting interviews anonymously by fax machine — the label continued to matter, until at some point it stopped doing so. You, on the other hand, are a legend. We now look at your work, your approach to fashion, your clothes, with knowing perspective — no longer in shop windows, but behind museum glass.

Yours sincerely,

Jesse Brouns

親愛的John Galliano:

我從來沒有搞清你是怎樣落戶到Maison Margiela的。我最近寫過，讓你負責這個品牌，就像要求畢加索接管杜尚的畫風一樣。Martin Margiela是個天才，但你也是。在巴黎最近的Dior高級定制展覽上，只要有看過這展覽的人，都深明這一點。每個人最記得住、最讚嘆不已的禮服，都是你的作品。你需要建回自己的品牌。或者至少：不要去一所像Margiela般擁有輝煌歷史的時裝屋。是的，你以前搞砸了，但我想不出除了你，有任何其他一位設計師，為了一次愚蠢的失禮行為，而要負上如此沉重的代價。當然，Renzo Rosso在低處扶你一把，給你一份工作，始終是件好事。

我還沒有看到Maison Margiela的最新系列。比利時媒體似乎不再受邀看騷，雖然Margiela從來沒有真正成為比利時品牌―它成立於巴黎，並且一直由意大利人擁有多年―但品牌將永遠與我的國家聯繫在一起。這是一個恥辱。話雖如此，我看過你之前的Margiela，我也很喜歡。但不知何故，我無法接受一個天才，屈就在另一個天才的宇宙中工作。我記得在巴黎Halle Freysinet一個寒冷的冬日，你為你自己品牌舉辦的最後一場男裝騷。舞台鋪滿閃閃發亮的紅色閃粉，你設法將冰冷的工業空間變得溫暖、神奇和迷人。儘管我成長於概念性時裝處於高峰時期的比利時，但我想念你的戲劇性。最重要是，我想念你每次現身，像一位默片時代的明星，在保鏢的簇擁下炫耀你的二頭肌。我想念這個你，快回來吧。

你最忠誠的，

Jesse Brouns

Dear John Galliano,

I have never really understood how you ended up at Maison Margiela. I wrote recently that putting you in charge of the label, was like asking Pablo Picasso to take over Marcel Duchamp. Martin Margiela was a genius, but so were you. At the recent Dior couture exhibition in Paris, that was clear for everyone to see. The dresses that everybody remembered, admired most, were all yours. You need your own brand back. Or at least: a maison that is not as weighed down by its glorious past as much as Margiela. Yes, you fucked up in the past, but I can’t think of any other designer who has paid so dearly for a stupid, intoxicated faux pas. And yes, of course it was nice of Renzo Rosso to put you back to work.

I haven’t seen your latest collections for Maison Margiela. The Belgian press, it seems, is no longer invited to the shows of the brand, that while never truly a Belgian brand — it was founded in Paris, and has been Italian-owned for years — will forever be linked with my country. And that is a shame. That said, I’ve seen previous shows, and I did enjoy them. But somehow, I can’t get my head around the whole set-up of a genius having to work within the universe of another genius. I remember one of the last men’s shows for your own brand, on a cold winter day in the Halle Freysinet in Paris. The catwalk was made of sparkly red glitter, and you managed to transform that icy industrial space into something warm, magical and enthralling. Even though I grew up in Belgium at the height of conceptual fashion, I miss your theatrality. Most of all, I miss your appearances on the catwalk, pimped up like a silent movie star, showing off your biceps, escorted by bodyguards. Please come back.

Yours sincerely,

Jesse Brouns