PARIS — Glenn Martens, recently appointed as creative director of Diesel, has decided to lighten the show schedule for his Y/Project brand by merging men’s wear and women’s wear into a single unified collection.
The designer, who is based in Paris, will present the coed line during Paris Men’s Fashion Week in January and June, he said on Thursday. The first collection will be unveiled on Jan. 24 at 4 p.m. CET.
Having produced collections largely remotely while under lockdown last year, Martens focused on giving existing designs a second life, homing in on the house’s trademark twisted constructions. In June 2020, he launched an eco-friendly line called Evergreen, a carryover collection of signature designs that never go on sale.
“To further protect our business, the fashion that we love, we have decided not to follow the extreme pace of four fashion weeks a year. Y/Project will stop showing four collections and merge the men’s and women’s into one bigger, more sustainable, and even more pushed collection,” Martens said in a statement.
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“By freeing time, this lapse of six months will give my team more freedom to explore, more time to deliver the intriguing designs you have been expecting from us,” added the designer, who won support from ANDAM’s family fund last summer with a cash endowment of 150,000 euros.
Y/Project joins brands including Givenchy, Jacquemus and Balmain in going coed, though the others will show as part of the February/March women’s calendar.
In his new position at Diesel, Martens has oversight over style, communications and interior design. He is sure to bring a blast of creative energy and renewed attention to the denim brand, which has not had a marquee talent at the helm since Nicola Formichetti exited in December 2017 after a four-year tenure as artistic director.
Martens will show his first Diesel collection for spring 2022, although the brand has yet to decide on when and how it will be presented to the press, given the ongoing uncertainties related to the coronavirus pandemic.
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