Diesel Spring 2027: Hot and Heavy

by · WWD
Diesel Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion WeekGiovanni Giannoni/WWD

No one at Glenn Martens’ swan song for Diesel will remember the last 20 looks of his hot-blooded show as the moans on a remix of Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby” grew more intense, and performers planted in the bleachers started pole dancing, headbanging, making out with each other — or writhing in ecstasy alone.

It was a fitting way to punctuate a five-year tenure that widened the aperture from jeans-and-T-shirt specialist to hedonistic lifestyle brand synonymous with wild partying, messy sex and the occasional walk of shame.

The hot-blooded spectacle also served as an experiential marketing stunt for Only Desire, Diesel’s new feminine perfume that came out over the summer — and a recap of all the fashion fuel Martens put in the brand’s tank.

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On Monday, the designer merged a trucker jacket with a quarter zip; a jeans jacket with a polo shirt; extended jeans into “pantasocks,” and printed shearling coats and lumberjacket shirts on nylon coats.

The outfits became progressively skimpier as the show progressed, climaxing with minuscule HotPants on oiled male models and nearly naked dresses made of shredded denim and sweatshirt fleece, but with the strands of remaining fabric resembling guipure lace.

Eagle-eyed observers might have noticed the finale look was worn by model Ella Snyder, who also wore Martens’ very first look for Diesel, bookending this fun-filled chapter in his fashion career. (He will now devote himself fully to Maison Margiela in Paris, having done double duty on the two OTB-owned brands for the past year and a half.)

Backstage, Martens said he was proud of what he and his teams accomplished at Diesel. “It’s always stood for alternative luxury, but it’s definitely a brand [that] has made statements, and I think a lot of people are following it,” he said.

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The Belgian designer, who first won acclaim for his avant-garde silhouettes at the now-defunct Y/Project brand, certainly proved himself a fabric whiz at Diesel. At Monday’s show, you sometimes weren’t sure if you were looking at denim, leather or a trompe-l’œil print.

“Denim is a never-ending source of of inspiration,” he enthused. “The beauty of denim is always the soul: The more you work on it, the more soul it gets. It’s the same thing with five-pocket jeans. The more you wear them, the more beautiful they become. I think denim is really that.”