>> Finally Confirmed: Martin Margiela Not Involved in Designing Maison —Just a year ago for the Spring 2009 season, Maison Martin Margiela celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a retrospective show — around that time, rumors began to circulate that the designer left the brand, since bolstered by tepid reviews for the house's Fall 2009 ready-to-wear and couture collections, and most recently, Spring 2010, which Suzy Menkes called "tragic."  Over the weekend, Margiela majority stakeholder Renzo Rosso finally confirmed: "Martin has not been there for a long time. He is here but not here. We have a new fresh design team on board. We are focusing on young, realistic energy for the future; this is really Margiela for the year 2015." Also confirmed: the fact that Haider Ackermann was offered creative directorship, but turned it down — likely because the brand refuses to publicize the head designer; it's said that the house is contractually obligated to permanently list Margiela as creative director. [Vogue UK, FWD]

>> Rumors have been swirling around Martin Margiela for almost a year now — but is it all just a ruse put into play by the designer himself?  

First, it was reported last September that he was exiting fashion imminently; by March of this year, despite company execs assuring that the designer was still in place, critics were convinced that Margiela had left the building.  And last week, T posited that Haider Ackermann may be taking Margiela's place.  

But now, Hint reports:

While rumors are brewing that Haider Ackermann may be Martin Margiela's successor, sources close to the elusive Belgian insist that this is one of his elaborate hoaxes. Whatever the case, we hear the incognito king was at the Los Angeles boutique not long ago waiting on unsuspecting costumers.

It sounds like Margiela is still in place at the company if he's waiting on customers at one of his boutiques — so maybe the hoax doesn't just involve the Ackermann rumor, but encompasses the entire supposed exit . . . 

>> Haider Ackermann has had a fan in Tilda Swinton for years — she has chosen him numerous times for the red carpet — but his Fall 2009 collection earned him a wider fan base. Style.com raved: "Has Haider Ackermann finally arrived? The beautiful collection he showed today certainly suggests he deserves every bit of the newfound attention."  Over the weekend, T echoed the sentiment that Fall 2009 helped the designer make the jump "from newcomer to trendsetter."

His business grew by 43 percent last year, and rumors "have been swirling for months," according to T, that Ackermann would be taking over Maison Martin Margiela:

When queried about the speculation, he sidesteps: 'When you meet the person you have admired for so many years, how can you possibly replace him? Sometimes it's better never to meet your heroes.'

He is open to designing for another house »

>> Rumors have been swirling about the status of Martin Margiela at his Maison since last year, and though chief executive Giovanni Pungetti avowed back in March that Margiela was "still in position," though had reduced his level of involvement to that of a consultant, critical reaction to the Fall 2009 collection which debuted that same month implied that there was no trace of Margiela the designer left.

Margiela arranged a meeting early last year with Raf Simons to discuss the possibility of replacing him, but Raf ultimately decided to stay at Jil Sander. Diesel, which bought a majority stake in the company in 2002, is also rumored to be interviewing candidates for the position — Haider Ackermann has been named as one.

Although a replacement has yet to be named, JC Report's sources confirm that Margiela is no longer a presence at all:

According to our source, Margiela and his Italian sales agent had created a pact very early on that if one left the company then the other would follow. Given Margiela's vocal dissatisfaction with Diesel's marketing approach and commercial distribution, it seems clear that the two are taking joint steps away from each other. As a follow up to this conversation, we were in contact with a designer of one of the numerous Margiela sub-brands, who simply stated: 'He has not been present since last season.'