After eleven years of loyal service at the head of the collections of the subversive brand adored by Gen Z, the Belgian is throwing in the towel to devote himself to the Italian label Diesel, of which he is also artistic director.
The press release is as succinct as his time with the brand was memorable.After 11 years of success, Y/Project and Glenn Martens announces he is stepping down as creative director“, announced the independent Parisian brand this afternoon. Hired as first assistant to Yohan Serfaty, who co-founded the label with Gilles Elalouf in 2010, the Flemish graduate of the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp was appointed head of the collections three years later. Season after season, first for men, then for women, under the leadership of the young Bruges designer, the Y/Project shows have become unmissable events at Paris Fashion Week.
Also read: Glenn Martens: “People are fed up with brands selling them €900 logo t-shirts”
Critically acclaimed and adored by the younger generation, the 40-year-old designer has elevated streetwear to the status of haute couture, through experimentation and well-measured staging. Rihanna loves it, and Kylie Jenner, the youngest of the Kardashian clan, popularizes her bodycon dresses and thigh-high boots with very high heels on the American market. Young generations around the world are snapping up the photogenic (others would say “Instagrammable”) clothes and accessories of the hyperactive designer. In 2017, he won the Andam Prize after being a finalist for the LVMH Prize in 2016. Transforming the mundane into the extraordinary, a credo that he masters perfectly. Renzo Rosso, founder and CEO of Diesel, noticed his talent and appointed him in 2020 to head his collections for the Italian denim brand. A good decision. Under the impetus of Martens, Diesel is becoming cool again. Like the Y2K aesthetic, inspired by the trashy bling of the 2000s. In 2022, he designed Jean Paul Gaultier’s spring-summer haute couture collection. Chloé Sevigny, the New York actress cool kid par excellence, gets married in one of her dresses.
Y/Project Spring-Summer 2023 Collection
Y/Project
It’s an understatement to say that everything Martens touches turns to gold (or becomes cool). But last June, Gilles Elalouf, still CEO of Y/Project, passed away after a long illness. We imagine that working for the brand wouldn’t be the same without its iconic founder.Glenn Martens thanks Y/PROJECT and Gilles Elalouf, the late CEO of the brand who tragically passed away last June, for giving him the support and freedom to express his vision while expanding his scope and developing the creative art that the label established.” concludes the press release. He will present his collection for Diesel spring-summer 2025 in two weeks in Milan.
