Biz Bash

In keeping with the Maison Martin Margiela aesthetic, H&M's in-house team created invitations for the event that had an LED panel embedded into a slim card stock box. A button on the side prompted the screen to flash, news ticker-style, the date, time, and location of the preview.

Villa Eugenie, a long-time producer of Maison Martin Margiela's Paris Fashion Week runway shows, turned the vacant nine-story Beekman Street venue into an existential world for the affair on October 23. Guests wandered around the site throughout the night—floors four through seven housed installations and performances, the eighth level had a V.I.P. lounge as well as bars, and the pop-up shop sat in the uppermost space. (The second floor was closed off, and the third floor was used as the production's base of operations.)

Housed on the main floor and illuminated by large spotlights, the event's step-and-repeat stamped Maison Martin Margiela's discreet trademark—the numbers 0 through 23—on raw concrete walls.

Like the invitation, scrolling LED panels provided guests with information. The pieces were hung over the elevators on every floor and pointed to different locations, allowing attendees to navigate the massive space.

Known for his manipulation of physical space, American contemporary artist Daniel Arsham took over a quarter of the fourth floor with a piece that displayed the Margiela for H&M garments. Three figures—one draped, one standing, and one hiding—were "imposed" into the surface of a custom wall, appearing to melt, erode, and ripple.

"(E)motion field," video installation artist Frédérique Chauveaux's 10- by 32-foot piece, consisted of nearly four dozen Margiela white shirts molded into different shapes, arranged on a soil-covered floor and projected with images.

Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker's contemporary dance company, Rosas, staged a custom, nearly two-hour performance that incorporated the Margiela for H&M collection and a 19.7- by 26.25-foot black-colored platform covered with white sand.

In keeping with the mostly white color scheme, low-lying furniture, including tables, chairs, and deep couches, were sporadically placed amidst select art installations.

Located on the eighth floor, directly adjacent to the V.I.P. area, was an installation of 30 television monitors showing security camera footage of the sand art performances interspersed with static on a loop.

The all-white Maison Martin Margiela for H&M pop-up shop occupied the entire ninth floor with half of the space dedicated to women's items and the other half dedicated to menswear. To allow the guests to enjoy the rest of the night without lugging around their purchases, staffers transported shopping bags to the coat check via a dedicated elevator. Guests could pick up their items as they left the event at the end of the night.

Catering staff from Olivier Cheng only served hors d'oeuvres and drinks on the seventh and eighth floors. The bar areas were intentionally kept smoky and dark.

At the end of the evening's finale performance, silver confetti showered down the venue's central atrium.