Graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the Antwerp Six era, the mysterious Martin Margiela went on to found the iconoclastic fashion house with business partner Jenny Meirens in 1988. The now-iconic tag labels represent a numerical system coding the appropriate category of each product line, and the 4 stitches on reverse have now become synonymous with the Margiela brand. Now helmed by the notorious John Galliano, Maison Margiela continues to pave the way for avant-garde fashion, with architectural silhouettes, deconstructed fabrics and refined minimalism.