It’s been a huge couple of days for Maison Margiela fans. At the beginning of the week, the French label revealed that it was not only skipping Paris Fashion Week for Shanghai, but putting on four separate exhibitions across China and opening up its entire working process to the public via Dropbox. Now, the New York vintage store Byronesque has announced the sale of several rare Maison Martin Margiela items this weekend in the Big Apple, which it’s calling ‘NOT AN AUCTION’.
“Setting up inside Assembly “next door”, this is the second and final sale of a large Martin Margiela collection from 1989-2009 – the Margiela uniform of people who were part of his world at the time,” said the store in a statement. “Accessible and easy to wear, still with the Margiela codes that distinguish Martin’s era from his successors, official and otherwise.”
As noted, this is the second time that Byronesque has put on a Margiela sale, the first being in Paris in March 2025. “The first Not an Auction sale was a reaction to the prices reached in recent Margiela auctions and to bring some stability to buying and collecting,” it said.
“This time, Byronesque is also taking a dig at the opposite end of high auction prices, selling the collection in plastic bags because “vintage” has become pollution, disposable and tasteless,” it continued. “The bags are intended to make people think about their ‘vintage’ consumption in the same way they think about single use plastic.” As Byronesque’s founders Gill Linton and Justin Westover have said since they founded the store in 2012: just because it’s old, doesn’t mean it’s good!!
While the plastic bags are designed by Alex Lipscomb, handwritten with messages about the current state of the vintage industry, the 1989-2009 Margiela collection includes “runway favourite knits and coats, oversized and underrated and Line 4 suiting.”
MARGIELA NOT AN AUCTION takes place from February 13-15 at Assembly New York “Next Door”, 168 Ludlow Street, 10002. Appointments available via DM.
