MAISON MARGIELA — COUP FATAL
A fragrance reimagined as a weapon.
PRELUDE: THE STRIKE
Maison Margiela didn’t want another perfume. They wanted a weapon — something beautiful enough to kill with. COUP FATAL was born not from romance, but from strategy. A fragrance designed to wound on contact.
ACT I: THE MARK
The identity fused Margiela’s quiet violence with the anatomy of a death blow. Typography was sharpened to a blade. The wordmark — COUP FATAL — crossed out and impaled by twin roses, their stems thorns. The bottle emerged as an artifact: a black monolith crowned with an ominous orb, half relic, half ritual device. You don’t spray it. You summon it.
ACT II: THE SCENE
The campaign unfolded like a triptych of cinematic assassinations. Poster I — The Relic: the bottle alone on marble, awaiting confession. Poster II — The Devotion: a model holds it like scripture, beauty disguised as faith. Poster III — The Aftermath: a figure stands over the fallen — the fragrance as consequence, the strike complete.
ACT III: THE LEGACY
COUP FATAL redefined perfume as declaration. It didn’t whisper seduction; it dictated surrender. Margiela’s philosophy — fashion as memory, violence, spectacle — was distilled into glass and shadow. Every element spoke in one voice: This isn’t allure. It’s aftermath.
Credits: Concept, naming, identity, and campaign art direction by Arash Giani.
Catalogue No. 009 / SIGNA ARCHIVE / MAISON MARGIELA: COUP FATAL SERIES / 2025