With A Tabi Film, Maison Margiela reasserts the importance of its founding emblem: the Tabi. Conceived as both a visual and cultural gesture, this short film directed by Yuri Ancarani revisits the iconic shoe through its symbols, craftsmanship, and legacy—at the intersection of fashion imagery and artisanal process.
Since its debut in 1989, the Tabi has embodied an instantly recognizable visual signature: a split-toe design inspired by traditional Japanese Jika-tabi socks. But beyond its shape, it reflects Margiela’s conceptual approach—anonymity, deconstruction, and ritualization of dress. Turning it into a film is thus a way to document not just an object, but a philosophy of fashion.
The film traces, in silence and gestures, the full journey of a pair of Tabis—from raw wood used for the mold to the final stitch. Each step is carried out by hand by a team of 11 specialized artisans, emphasizing a resistance to industrialization. The attention to craft mirrors the house’s visual language: precise, codified, and fragmentary.
Directed by visual artist Yuri Ancarani and narrated by Ermanna Montanari, the film leans into sensory abstraction. Image becomes material—close-ups, textures, and silent sequences elevate the Tabi into a fetish object. This perspective aligns with Margiela’s historical strategy: transforming design into coded iconography.
The film integrates footage from the house’s archive, contextualizing the Tabi through runway shows, performances, and imagery across decades. These fragments are not nostalgic but structural, stitching together a visual continuity that reinforces the shoe’s centrality in Margiela’s aesthetic vocabulary.
In Margiela’s case, absolutely. With its radical form, the Tabi functions as a narrative tool. The film presents it not as a product but as a symbol—an extension of the house’s intellectual framework. This affirms Margiela’s ongoing emphasis on artistic discourse over seasonal trends.
Because A Tabi Film offers a rare synthesis of gesture, memory, and image—restoring a cult silhouette to its full narrative power. It positions the Tabi not as footwear, but as the core of a fashion language.
Further reading :
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