Apparently shame, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. The two concepts were intertwined in the energetic show Glenn Martens staged for Diesel on the opening day of Milan Fashion Week — one that did away with the product clusters the creative director has duly hammered on since joining the brand to instead embrace the company’s motto with wider arms.
What defines “successful living”? Judging by Martens’ fall 2026 collection, simply having a great time. In this specific case, the messier, the better.
This was Martens’ call to the Diesel tribe to own the walk of shame — no regrets. “It’s the moment that maybe we don’t remember. We all had some of them, when you don’t really know where you are when you wake up and wonder, ‘What happened last night?’” he said in a preview. “You had fun and everything is wrongly dressed, but it’s super sexy and hot.”
Twisting, wrapping and textile manipulation were his go-to tools to express that morning-after energy, while strongly echoing his work at Y/Project. Even the simplest silhouettes underwent such treatments, from the knits and denim pieces stiffed with resin and crystalized with permanent creases that opened the show to the trompe-l’oeil looks mimicking T-shirts tucked into checkered miniskirts twisting around the body.
Other cool styles included tailored coats and suits cut from multiple layers of wool scraps pressed together, foiled garments cracking open to give a peek at the pattern underneath, and colorful fluffy fake furs that were the result of a patchwork exercise.
While a floral theme was introduced in intarsia knits with cutout flowers around the neckline or printed pleated dresses mashing up different botanical patterns, washed-out colors on velvet separates and denim added to the colorful lineup and the refreshing bright accents that Martens favored for a color-blocked segment of painted leather looks.
He also cheekily nodded to a morning’s glow, covering models in glitter and encrusting printed T-shirts and denim pants in crystals.
Overall the collection offered another inventive way for Martens to reprise the rave culture and irreverent nature embedded in Diesel, which also was displayed in the simple yet striking concept for the set. More than 50,000 objects, campaign props, invites and memorabilia hailing from the Diesel archives and offices worldwide were arrayed in an installation at the center of the location. They offered evidence of past feasts and a snapshot of D-land, a universe where everything can coexist, from inflatable dolls to figurines of Santa Claus, branded underwear to cute animal plushies, passing through sex toys, balloons, confetti and real pizza slices.
They made guests imagine the multiple stories linked to each object and play at picking their favorites. Fun is the eye of the beholder, too.
