Film Review: We Margiela

New York - The man, the myth, the legend that is Martin Margiela has inspired a level of fandom in the fashion industry usually reserved for musicians who’ve died too soon. It has only surged since he stepped away from his eponymous company almost ten years ago. While an exhibition in Paris currently presents a greatest hits from the maison’s archive, here in NYC the North American premier of the documentary “We Margiela” telling the story of the origin of his label shows at the Fashion Institute of Technology. A congregation of followers in statement eyewear, nicely tailored coats, hair pinned behind ears, bearing those four white stitches on the nape of their neck file quietly into the auditorium like members of a sect. Someone taking his seat can be heard saying, in awe, “Look at this. We’re all still standing on his shoulders.” Yet none of those gathering would recognize their charismatic leader if he brushed against them later as they spill out onto West 27th Street.