Recycling goes ultra-luxe at Maison Martin Margiela Couture

At a time when individuality counts for so much in the fashion landscape, Maison Martin Margiela's precepts seem more relevant than ever. This morning in Paris the house presented its Artisanal collection, the Margiela take on couture.

Garments are constructed from found objects of the most luxe order, to create a truly one-off piece imbued with all the wit and irreverence you'd expect of this label. 

For spring 2014, that theme of collector-ship was explored literally, with pieces made from reclaimed interiors fabrics and upholstery. So printed textiles by the artist Frank Lloyd Wright became a column dress wrapped around a corset, a 1920 Bauhaus tapestry hanging an opera coat. 

It was wearable art, something designers have been exploring of late, at its most conceptual and its most effective. The white-coated team at Margiela propose more than the usual artistic inspiration; they suggest the art itself can become clothing.

But for all their feel of collectible objets, these clothes are far from rarefied or abstruse. Kanye wore one of last season's enamel masks on tour, while Gaga chose a vest for her 'Applause' video.

And there were plenty of fashionable tics here to ensure desirability beyond the high-minded: holographic and high-shine finishes, intricately beaded tattoo vests, flashes of gold mimicked in a version of the label's famous split-toe Tabi boots. And then also the evident labour behind each piece – for its Artisanal line, Margiela supplies the man hours behind each piece: 23 for a T-shirt decorated with old Fortuny fabric; 49 for the Lloyd Wright dress and so on.

For a collection that is often so singular in its take, necessarily so given the methods and resources, Margiela Artisanal often feels fortuitously in step with other houses. Last season it was the label's couture jeans that trickled down into other house's ready-to-wear offerings and beyond. This year, the eye motifs and Op-Art prints feel like the salient points with mass potential.

And no doubt the facemasks will show up on MTV somewhere too. 

Click the gallery to see all the looks from Maison Martin Margiela Artisanal spring 2014 collection.