The Martin-less Maison Margiela started on a new road last year, away from the checklist replaying of the codes of its founder. It began with a new spirit in the Artisanal collection and benefited by being shown on the Couture schedule. The crystal mask that Kanye has been seen cavorting in this week onstage? That was from the Fall 2012 Artisanal offering—and was originally worn by a girl. Then there was last season's ready-to-wear—the one currently in the stores—with its debt to Dada and the Daleks; again it had an energy and a sense of fun that felt like a fresh start. Tonight's ready-to-wear presentation showed another chapter of this new story; yet strangely, it also displayed—maybe not even consciously—some of the very foundations of its founder.

The ghost of a genius is hard to get away from—especially when the genius in question is not even dead. Paris fashion week is haunted by a few of these talents. A simple CGI replaying of their past actions is just not going to work; instead, there has to be a forging ahead, albeit with an essential respectfulness for the principles of what the house was founded on. At Maison Martin Margiela, that is now happening.