A portfolio Martin Margiela created in 1987 while developing the idea for his future fashion house was stolen on a train and recovered by police a year later. Nearly four decades later, the portfolio was offered at auction in Paris in July, as part of a sale drawn from Margiela's personal archives. Described by Maurice Auction as the first portfolio illustrating the future Maison Martin Margiela, the 1987 dossier contains 13 A3-format pages of drawings, facsimiles and collages setting out the aesthetic of the then-unnamed house. Estimated at €5,000 to €8,000, it sold for €24,700 at the July 9, 2026 sale, including fees. The archive sale also brought together sketches, prototypes, garments and personal objects spanning Margiela’s career and later years at Hermès. This fascinating auction reveals how a pivotal creative document, nearly lost to theft, ultimately became a valuable testament to one designer's visionary journey from obscurity to fashion icon.
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