Value judgement: Maison Martin Margiela show comments on price of luxury

Paris – Luxury fashion house Maison Martin Margiela will always stand out during Fashion Week, and this week's autumn/winter 2014 couture show in Paris was no different. In the brand's usual avant-garde and eccentric way, models strode down the catwalk in off-cuts of couture and gowns embedded with real coins, poignantly focusing on the value of couture.

The show was like watching a couture haberdashery come to life. Models wore clothing from old luxury fabrics, such as an old Paul Poiret coat, patchworked together in Margiela's signature collage style. The coins – sourced from dressing tables and flea markets in Paris – offered a shimmering glint on translucent gowns in a comment about the richness of couture, both in craftmanship and worth. While we expect nothing less from the forward-thinking fashion house, designer Matthieu Blazy's playful approach to couture brings question of money and worth to the fore while also honouring 'the collective memory of haute couture'.

In our forthcoming Autumn/Winter Trend Briefing, The Me-conomy, we will look at the meaning of value. For more on the event and the themes we will be exploring, go to The Future Laboratory Eventbrite page.