Maison Margiela and Gentle Monster centre fourth eyewear collaboration on deconstruction

Paris-based luxury house Maison Margiela and South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster are launching their fourth joint collection on October 29. The line consists of 43 sunglasses and 25 optical frames, 68 SKUs in total, and is built around the theme of 'Deconstruction'.

According to the brands, the collection starts from familiar eyewear shapes, elevating some and distorting others. Several styles feature elements that look crushed or altered, which define the visual language of the partnership.

Oversized frames with exaggerated volume are designed to hide the face from others while widening the wearer's field of vision. Narrow, upswept models are tightly wrapped in leather, echoing Maison Margiela's 'Second Skin'.

Signature stitches in a new form

Maison Margiela's signature four white stitches appear on the temples across the collection. On the slimmer styles, the house introduces a new branding detail, with the stitches woven so they appear to float over the edges of the frame.

Campaign film and eight pop-up spaces

The campaign takes the form of a short film directed by Alex Prager, which focuses on uncanny moments in everyday life. It follows a woman who has ten minutes to meet someone as she rushes through a constantly shifting city, with the eyewear appearing on the different characters she encounters along the way.

To mark the launch, pop-up spaces open on October 29 in eight cities: Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne and Paris. Several are housed in Gentle Monster's own stores, including its Haus Nowhere locations in Seoul, Shanghai and Bangkok. Each space translates the collection's concept into an unfinished aesthetic built from unstable, irregular forms.

In Seoul, the launch is celebrated with a performance by choreographer and creative director Damien Jalet and artist Ian McMahon. The piece interprets deconstruction through movement, with body, space, objects and light colliding to take existing structures apart and rebuild them in new forms.