Maison Margiela and Gentle Monster introduce their fourth collaborative eyewear collection, exploring deconstruction through 68 sunglasses and optical frames. The new release includes 43 sunglasses and 25 optical designs, with modified shapes, exaggerated proportions, and unconventional material treatments defining the range. The collection launches on October 29, 2026, accompanied by a campaign film directed by artist Alex Prager and pop-up installations across eight international cities.
EYEWEAR
The collaboration takes familiar eyewear silhouettes and alters their structure through distortion and reconstruction. Some frames appear crushed or partially dismantled, capturing the appearance of objects at an intermediate stage of production. This approach reflects the unfinished aesthetic that informs the collection, with each design exploring how alterations to conventional forms can change the relationship between eyewear and the face.
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Oversized silhouettes introduce substantial volume, covering large portions of the face while allowing an expanded field of peripheral vision. Their sculptural shapes transform the glasses into mask-like accessories, using proportion as a defining design element. Other styles feature slim, upswept profiles that follow the contours of the face.
Leather wrapping introduces the collection’s “Second Skin” concept. The material closely surrounds selected narrow frames, creating a fitted appearance that emphasizes their curved shapes. The treatment adds texture to the eyewear and introduces another approach to modifying conventional frame construction.
Maison Margiela’s signature four white stitches appear across the collection, identifying the collaboration through a familiar house detail. The stitches decorate the temples, while selected slim models introduce a different application. Here, the stitching appears to float along the perimeter of the frames, creating a suspended visual effect.
Artist Alex Prager directs the campaign film accompanying the release, exploring extraordinary moments within everyday life. The story follows a woman who has just ten minutes to meet someone, sending her rushing through a constantly changing city. Along the way, she encounters a series of distinctive characters wearing different eyewear designs from the collection.
The encounters introduce the experimental silhouettes within a cinematic narrative that explores unfamiliar situations and shifting surroundings. Prager uses the protagonist’s urgency and the changing urban environment to develop the collection’s central concept through visual storytelling.
Maison Margiela and Gentle Monster will open dedicated pop-up spaces in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, and Paris. The installations translate the design approach of the eyewear into architectural environments featuring unfinished aesthetics and unstable, irregular forms. Each location offers a physical interpretation of deconstruction, extending the ideas behind the collection into the surrounding space.
The Seoul activation will also feature an exclusive live performance conceived by choreographer Damien Jalet and artist Ian McMahon. Their production explores deconstruction through physical movement, connecting the human body with changing forms and spatial arrangements.
The fourth Maison Margiela x Gentle Monster collection launches on October 29, 2026, through Gentle Monster and select boutiques. The release brings together altered silhouettes, leather treatments, and distinctive stitching details, continuing the partnership’s exploration of experimental eyewear through design, film, and architectural installations.
