One of the buzziest events awaiting trendsetters at next month’s Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week will take place not on the catwalk, but the auction block.

For the latest installment in their ongoing biannual collaborations, Parisian auction house Maurice Auction and London-based Kerry Taylor Auctions are selling 270 Martin Margiela styles from 1988 through 1994—the Belgian designer-turned-artist’s earliest days. The auction will take place in a vacant storefront in Paris’s hip 11th arrondissement on January 27, after a two-day showcase. Together, the houses have dubbed their forthcoming frenzy “the largest single auction of Margiela ever held.”

Navy and gray striped cable-knit sweater, Autumn-Winter 1990-91. Photo: © George Mavrikos, courtesy of Kerry Taylor Auctions.

Angela and Elena Picozzi, the two sisters behind Italian fashion prototyping and production company Castor Fashion, are consigning every lot from their own collection. Their mother, Graziella Picozzi, originally discovered Margiela in the 1970s, when, as a fashion student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), he consulted for Deni Cler, a brand Picozzi co-founded with her husband Marco. Angela and Elena called that meeting “a fundamental moment for both of them” in the sale’s press materials.

“We always considered these items an important part of fashion history that ought to be protected,” the sisters continued. “Over time, we realized how important it is that Martin’s talent and vision be enhanced, studied, told, and, why not, worn. And that’s why we are selling today.”

Curtain skirt ensemble, Autumn-Winter 1990-1991. Photo: © George Mavrikos, courtesy of Kerry Taylor Auctions.

Their auction’s extensive lots will offer “complex, museum-worthy ensembles” as well as individual garments. Some pieces have never been worn. Others have never left their packaging. The Pincozzis often bought multiples—and even scooped designs that never made it into Margiela stores.

Alex Baddeley of Kerry Taylor Auctions researched and cataloged the whole collection. “The aim was to put together ensembles as faithfully as possible to the original shows,” he told me over email.

Pannier bag ensemble, Spring-Summer 1990. Photo: © George Mavrikos, courtesy of Kerry Taylor Auctions.

Margiela founded his eponymous label in 1988. By insisting on his anonymity, the designer ensured a legend grew around him as he sent his avant-garde, deconstructed, and upcycled creations down runways hastily built in abandoned playgrounds and parking structures. Margiela retired from the maison in 2009 (John Galliano currently serves as its creative director), turning his hand to fine art and gaining gallery representation in 2021. A number of these designs have become the subject of museum exhibitions in recent years.

“There is very little available documentation of early Margiela shows and it often consists of quite abstract and lo-fi videos,” Baddeley continued. He watched Margiela’s groundbreaking early shows frame by frame, and consulted with the designer’s old collaborators “to advise on the mood of the collections and how they were conceived.”

A “rare and important” pannier bag ensemble from Margiela’s breakout Spring/Summer 1990 collection leads the sale with an estimate of €4,000 to €6,000 ($4,145 to $6,218). The iconic curtain skirt from his Fall/Winter 1990 collection follows, with an estimate of €2,500 to €3,500 ($2,591 to $3,627).

Extremely rare jacket, waistcoat and tie from Margiela’s ! line circa 1988. Photo: © George Mavrikos, courtesy of Kerry Taylor Auctions.

Even dedicated Margiela fans, however, might be surprised to learn that the designer collaborated with Deni Cler on a line simply titled ! from 1988 through 1989—the same year that Margiela founded his eponymous maison, shortly after finishing a three-year stint at Jean Paul Gaultier. Two sets of clothing from this lesser-known project will grace next month’s auction, alongside a complete set of hand-embellished facsimile sketches for the Autumn/Winter 1989–90 season. (Margiela rarely sent his original designs to manufacturers.) Baddeley called the cache “a rare surprise and an important document of fashion history.” It’s expected to fetch €600 to €1,000 ($622 to $1,037).

These artifacts will go on view for the public starting on January 25 at 81 Voltaire Boulevard. The Margiela auction itself will begin at 11 a.m. on January 27 at the same address.