Visits: 19
Ruminating over a caesar salad, Glenn Martens described this Diesel collection as “for everyone.” He continued, “Because Diesel is not a luxury brand, and this is important to remember. This means that our pre-collections—unlike say Louis Vuitton or Balanciaga who speak in ‘pre’ to the same customer as [the] main line—are for a different audience than our shows, although there is some overlap. Our shows are more for people in the fashion industry, while with our pre-collections we try to speak to everyone; my brother, my mother, teenagers in high schools… everyone. So it is a very different exercise for me.”
Assembling such a broad, yet aesthetically-distinct offer, certainly requires Martens to exercise different creative muscles than those he uses for Diesel main line or Y/Project. In order to conjure this more commercial offer he considered a constellation of personalities who share the same characteristic: “it’s this breaking boundaries, no bullshit attitude. Sexy and fun.”
Denim, both from the permanent Library selection and in seasonal styles, remains the material manifestation of Diesel’s core irreverent spirit. Here it was manipulated and replicated in multiple manners to create shoes and underwear (apparently super-popular), woven into jersey—a sort of Diesel boucle—to create boobtubes and sportswear separates. There were zippered denim dresses, leg-seamed long denim skirts, and of course jeans and jackets aplenty. These sometimes came with the Diesel D-logo (embroidered over the posterior) that Martens enjoys making as ubiquitous as possible; other appearances included as a buckle on his belt-skirt hybrids, in the hardware of a Charm handbag whose chains could be used as necklace, and at the chest of metallic lamé space-girl vests.
Other phases included a black-focused group whose aesthetic ran from utilitarian-grunge, oversized, to post-streetwear tailoring. There were cleverly double-layered shirts whose distressed exteriors revealed the inner layer (descendants from the last mainline collection). A map of the world was blown up and distorted to create an abstract camouflage, emphasizing this company’s global ambitions. Accessories are key to meeting these, and for this collection Martens introduced a new line of sunglasses created with Luxottica as well as new versions of the emphatically soled Prototype sneaker. The acid-toned floral pieces at the end in ongoing house profiles were, as their designer intended, both sexy and fun.
