Glenn Martens on Layering Fabrics and Personalities in Diesel Fall 2024 Collection
MILAN — “Say hi to your friends and family,” Glenn Martens said Monday, pointing to a camera while welcoming WWD to a walk-through of his new collection for Diesel.
The pre-show appointment has become a fixture since he joined the company in late 2020, only this time more people participated as the brand embraced an innovative format by livestreaming the whole show prep ritual. Since Feb. 18, users tuning to the brand’s website could switch cameras across different locations to follow the casting process, see Martens and his team assembling final looks or check the atelier and runway set up.
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The 72-hour-long, behind-the-scenes access was another piece of the democratic puzzle Martens has been putting together season after season at the brand. From opting for open-to-the-public fashion shows to staging free rave parties around the world, the Belgian designer has proven he knows how to catch the fleeting attention of younger generations by responding to their need to be engaged. This has been key in helping him generate buzz about Diesel, revamp its irreverent and unapologetic approach to fashion and enable a new, digital-native audience to experience it for the first time.
“We’re an alternative to luxury, so we also want to be democratizing [fashion] and talking to everybody,” Martens said. “For the very first time, everything is livestreamed. I don’t think everybody has ever done that.…It’s quite amazing, you can see everything.
“Fashion week is always about exclusivity, always about the happy few…but we have so many people who love Diesel and who are not able to get this insight…or to see that we are also working like 16 hours a day and it’s not just all influencers and celebrities,” Martens said. “It’s nice to be transparent and really important at Diesel because we are an in-your-face brand.”
That straightforward and honest attitude has been paying off. Last year, the brand posted sales growth of 13.1 percent, representing less than 40 percent of parent company OTB Group’s total revenues, which totaled 1.9 billion euros. Historically stronger in menswear, the label’s women’s division has increasingly gained heat, now accounting for almost 50 percent of the business, while Gen Z represents 35 percent of its customer base.
For Martens, these figures prove that the fashion message he’s been sending out for three years has now trickled down and established itself in the market. His stylistic relaunch of the brand has repeatedly hammered on a focus on denim in all forms, utilitarian inflections and MTV-heyday pop aesthetics. Now, for his fifth physical runway show for the brand, he’s ready to shuffle things up.
“The collection is really a melting pot for the first time,” Martens said. “Now we know those three worlds so we don’t have to insist so intensively in a simple way. So I decided to merge all together a bit — give a little bit of freedom to my teams,” he added with a smile.
As result, a more grown-up collection is to bow Wednesday, channeling Diesel’s raw attitude and frisky energy but in sleeker silhouettes, trading extra-short proportions for longer hemlines and elongated tailoring, and switching metallic effects for unexpected furry textures.
“But of course, we’re always considering the Diesel man and the woman as somebody who is really able to have fun, and sexy. Even though they go to a fancy cocktail, afterward they can be wasted on the ground. And they really don’t give a s–t,” Martens said.
The layering of these different personalities within the Diesel muse has been translated literally in the fall 2024 collection. Double layering of materials, garment bonding, distressed effects and coating treatments are among Martens’ go-to ways to cast a new light on the approachable and familiar appearance of denim and jersey fabrics.
“I think we’ve invented a quite intriguing language, especially in material research, treatments and 2D manipulations, which are a never-ending source of creativity,” said Martens about the work done so far. “This is a bit more an elegant line, but none of the pieces are classic tailoring,” he continued, showing a denim suit and coat with rubber coating. “The starting point will always be denim.”
Even when referencing elements of sartorial tradition, like classic checkered fabrics and cool wool, the designer Diesel-fied the process, playing heavily on distressed effects placed “like sweat stains you get from partying and raving.”
Ditto for the disheveled appearance of a series of feminine and unfussy jersey dresses and two-piece sets merging floral and cheetah patterns, which with their slightly puffed shoulders and longer proportions made for a refreshing introduction. A series of faux fur looks in color-dipped wool promises to make quite an impact on the runway (and watch out for a white furry fitted blazer and matching pencil skirt, an expression of Diesel’s take on sophistication).
Furry applications were a recurrent motif running through different designs “like some kind of crazy explosion coming from the inside,” Martens said. They trimmed ribbed knits or embellished logoed puffer jackets, which also came doubled with a transparent mesh for another nice effect.
“The starting point is never allowed to be cashmere or something fancy. I don’t want that, we have to stay true to where we are,” Martens said. “We’re a lifestyle brand and when we do runways, we obviously do create something a bit more exclusive, but we’re not allowed to work on exclusive-specific materials. Exclusivity comes because of the design concepts, because we try to see things in an alternative way, but the starting point is never allowed to be high.”
The spirit of curiosity in finding new solutions even within the commonplace and surprise both himself and others is probably the thickest thread tying Martens to Diesel’s audience and helping his attitude to resonate with younger customers.
“It’s been the spirit of every generation at their age. It’s the joy of youth: that sparkle in the eyes and excitement because of the discovery,” the designer said. “I remember me being 18, I was very hungry for life. Everything was not allowed because of my parents, so the moment I was able to get out of the roof of my family home, I was trying [everything]. It’s a very exciting moment in life, all is new and unknown.
“And I’m still trying as a 40-year-old person to lean on that kind of way of thinking. Diesel is doing it also. We always try to go for the road that has not been paved yet,” he concluded.
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