Diesel taps Y/Project's Glenn Martens as new creative director

Y/Project’s Glenn Martens has been appointed as the new creative director of OTB-owned Italian label Diesel.

The Belgian designer will join the company immediately and will oversee style, communications and interior design, WWD reports. It is unclear when his first collection for the label will drop.

Martens was promoted to the creative helm of Y/Project in 2013 and has since expanded it into womenswear. During his tenure, he has been hailed for reviving the Parisian label through his creative flair and innovative avant-garde denim creations.

Prior to that, he kicked off his illustrious career as junior designer at Jean Paul Gaultier having graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

Glenn Martens named creative director at Diesel

This isn’t the first time Martens and Diesel have crossed paths. He was tapped as a guest designer for the Diesel Red Tag capsule series in 2018. A year earlier, he was named winner of the 2017 edition of ANDAM, a French fashion award supported by OTB.

“I know many designers and I just know Glenn is the perfect fit for Diesel, the first designer creative director of this brand in its 42 years of history,” OTB Group president Renzo Rosso told WWD. “Glenn has an incredible background, he comes from the Antwerp school, and I love the way he can pick iconic pieces and reinterpret them, denim in particular, with modernity.

“I have been following his work for years since he won ANDAM, and I know he can take Diesel, and its iconic global lifestyle, into the future. After all these years, I am happy to hand it over to someone who will carry it forward with new energy and a fresh vision.”

Martens told WWD he is “extremely honored and excited to join the Diesel family”.

Photo credit: Arnaud Lajeunie