Jenny Meirens: The woman behind the Maison Margiela label

He changed the fashion landscape – and one woman was at the enigmatic designer’s side at all times. Susannah Frankel tells Jenny Meirens’ story.

If ever the notion of a status symbol was subverted, it was with the birth of the blank white Maison Martin Margiela label.

Conceived one evening in 1988 at a little bar in Mantova, Italy, when power-dressing was at its height, the idea was that only those in the know would be able to determine its significance, or even be able to tell if a garment was “designer” in the first place.