Glenn Martens introduced one of the most eye-catching silhouettes so far this Milan season at Diesel: transposing the visual impact of low-waisted jeans onto drop-waist coats and cocktail dresses, some with the suspended skirt construction that was one of his signatures at Y/Project. They looked chic and sophisticated, whether in real tweed and houndstooth fabrics, or trompe-l’œil prints on jersey.
This ranks as one of the Belgian designer’s most sophisticated and dressy Diesel collections to date, despite the disquieting black or white contact lenses that blanked out models’ retinas, and the smiles crudely spray-painted on some faces, “Joker” style.
The tags were an echo of the mind-bending show space, an enormous inflatable structure and the surrounding walls all decked out in graffiti crowdsourced from nearly 8,000 artists from around the world.
Martens dished out other helpings of weirdness in the show, including a flesh-like cable knit with built-in chest hair, offbeat furry Betty Flintstone dresses, and multiple looks in extremely distressed fabrics. Denim came in intriguing glazed and matte finishes.
“There’s always a bit of cheekiness,” he remarked backstage.
But his design skills and range shone through in bubble-shaped puffer jackets, minimalist coats with a “Star Trek” sleekness, and puckered shirts that also winked to the now-defunct Y/Project label.
Backstage, Martens confirmed he would remain at the creative helm of Diesel as he also takes on Maison Margiela in Paris, the timing of his debut collection there still TBD.
He seemed to tease his new gig with a trio of finale looks of shirts photo-printed on a square of fabric pasted crudely to the models’ torsos, paired with loose jeans that slid off hips to reveal a hint of plumber’s crack.
Cheeky, indeed.
