For their first exclusively menswear collection, MM6 Maison Margiela took to Pitti Uomo 107 in Florence. The bi-annual menswear trade show, which in previous years has hosted runways from S.S. Daley and Martine Rose, marks the official start of the January menswear calendar, acting as the aperitivo to Milan and Paris. For MM6, it was a chance to show in a new city and to focus more acutely on the language of menswear.

Taking place in a huge glass and steel greenhouse called the Tepidarium del Roster in the city’s famed Giardino dell’Orticoltura (Horticultural Garden), you might have expected the collection to take inspiration from nature or many rare plants and flowers that surrounded the venue. Instead, the collection was one that felt like it came out of the sticky floors and tobacco smoke air of a basement club in 90s London.

As Pulp’s This is Hardcore fizzed out from the speakers, it felt like we were seeing numerous iterations of Jarvis Cocker himself walking the runway. Officially, the inspiration was the wardrobe of Miles Davis, an ever-present style icon for many musicians, including the Britpop crew. As the skinny suits and neck scarves transitioned into heavier, leathery looks, the vibe got a lot sexier and a lot seedier (in a good way!).

The final looks of the collection, which included black leather trenches, studded leather doctor’s bags, huge motorcycle gloves and coated denim jumpsuits, felt like clever references to the sartorial codes that dominate Pitti Uomo — very classic menswear — but taken somewhere much darker and distinctly MM6.