Suzy Menkes nonchalantly blew the lid off Maison Martin Margiela’s purposeful secrecy in her British Vogue review of the house’s Haute Couture show, identifying one Matthieu Blazy as its head creative. “It is rare in fashion to have [an] ‘a star is born’ moment,” Menkes reported. “But, as Raf Simons, the young designer's former boss, hugged his protégé backstage, it was clear that Blazy’s moment had come.” She also uploaded a photo of the aforementioned hug to Instagram. “It is understandable that Renzo Rosso, whose company Only the Brave is behind Margiela, should want to keep Blazy backstage — especially since the founding designer so rarely showed his face,” she continued. “But, you can’t keep such a talent under wraps.”
Not in this day and age! The Internet dug up 30-year-old Blazy’s LinkedIn profile (which listed him as "head designer couture and artisanale line at Maison Martin Margiela," a graduate of La Cambre in Belgium, and an apprentice at Balenciaga and John Galliano) and his Instagram account, which revealed that he hangs out with Adriana Lima and Isabeli Fontana. Notice the past tense? Both Blazy’s LinkedIn and Instagram are no more as of this morning — though, Complex located the head menswear designer’s LinkedIn (in a post now deleted). His name is Cristophe Copin, and his profile will likely soon be a memory of the time we spent digitally lurking, too.
The company sent around the following statement: “In light of recent rumors regarding individual members of our design team, we ask you to remember that the long-standing communication policy of the Maison has not changed and that Maison Martin Margiela does not communicate on any individual member of its collective, as our work is done by a team and is credited only to this same collective. This is our official spokespeople policy, and it remains our only comment on this subject.” And anyway, “What’s that jacket, Blazy/Copin?” doesn’t have quite the same meme potential.