Diesel SS27, Glenn Martens' last collection: a club built inside the venue and 200 (LA)HORDE performers embedded in the audience
Glenn Martens closed six years at Diesel with a show staged as a club, and the strangers dancing and grabbing at each other in the seats were hired.
Two hundred performers, directed by the Marseille collective (LA)HORDE, were placed among the guests. The house calls the result a happening with rules: the actions look spontaneous, and that is the point. Tension builds through the show, and it is meant to end in release, which is where Donna Summer arrives.
The garments carry the same double meaning. Prints of tweed coats and heavy winter jackets sit on lightweight button-ups, so winter is worn into spring. What looks like micro denim shorts is a transfer print on jersey. A belt holding up a top repeats the very first piece Martens showed at the house.
Concept by Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck, styling by Ursina Gysi, casting by Establishment NY, hair by Tom Wright, make-up by Inge Grognard.
The weekly
NewsletterWeeklyOne email a week. Every post from the week, and what didn't fit on a slide.Free. Never shared. Unsubscribe any time.
The post, as it ran
01DIESEL'S LAST SHOW UNDER GLENN MARTENS WAS HELD IN A CLUB BUILT INSIDE THE VENUE. 200 OF THE PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE WERE PERFORMERS.
02MARTENS HAS LED DIESEL SINCE 2020. THIS SPRING 2027 COLLECTION, SHOWN IN MILAN ON 22 SEPTEMBER, IS HIS LAST FOR THE HOUSE.
03THE PERFORMERS WERE DIRECTED BY (LA)HORDE, AN ARTIST COLLECTIVE FROM MARSEILLE. THEY SAT AMONG THE GUESTS RATHER THAN WALKING THE RUNWAY.
04THEY DANCED, TOUCHED AND UNSETTLED THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM. THE HOUSE DESCRIBES IT AS A HAPPENING WITH RULES, WHERE THE UNEXPECTED DRIVES EVERYTHING.
05THE SOUNDTRACK WAS WRITTEN FOR THE SHOW BY SENJAN JANSEN. IT ENDED ON A REWORK OF DONNA SUMMER'S LOVE TO LOVE YOU BABY.
06THE DENIM WAS COATED AND THEN LASERED SO IT READS AS LEATHER. SEPARATE GARMENTS WERE MERGED INTO SINGLE PIECES, JOINED ALONG CUTAWAYS SHAPED LIKE ORCHIDS.
07MARTENS PRINTED HIS FIRST COLLECTION ONTO HIS LAST. ONE TROMPE L'OEIL COPIES A RAW-EDGED SHEARLING COAT FROM HIS FIRST DIESEL CATWALK SHOW.
08THE FINAL LOOK WAS WORN BY ELLA SNYDER, THE MODEL WHO OPENED HIS FIRST DIESEL COLLECTION. SHE CLOSED THIS ONE IN THE SMALLEST DENIM SHORTS OF IT.
09HIS WORDS FOR IT: "IT'S ABOUT INCLUSIVITY, SELF-EXPRESSION, PLEASURE AND THE DEMOCRACY OF EXPERIENCE." HE SIGNED OFF: "LET'S TAKE A RIDE ONE MORE TIME."