Glenn Martens, the inspired Belgian fashion designer behind Y/Project, Diesel, and Maison Margiela, discusses the evolving landscape of fashion. He reflects on his formative years and the challenges that shaped his creative voice. Martens reveals how he redefined Diesel to restore its joyful spirit while advocating for deeper storytelling and craftsmanship amidst social media's superficialities. He also critiques the industry's fast-paced demands, comparing it to a 'Hunger Games' of instant judgment that overshadows the beauty of fashion as a process.
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insights INSIGHT
Social Media Flattens Fashion Nuance
Social media drives a need for instant visual hits and flattens nuance in fashion critique.
Glenn Martens warns this shifts attention away from construction, storytelling and long-term buildup.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Show Inside A Historic Chapel
Glenn presented a collection inside La Chapelle Expiatoire surrounded by tombs, making the show highly emotional.
He describes that moment as a standout from his early independent-brand years.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Learn Every Role To Lead Better
Learn every role in a studio to become a better creative director and improve team communication.
Glenn stresses understanding production, PR, sales and merchandising from hands-on experience.
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Belgian designer Glenn Martens grew up in Bruges, studied in Antwerp and cut his teeth in Paris, where lean years taught him every role from pattern cutting to PR. At Y/Project, he turned constraints into modular, shape-shifting design. At Diesel, he reset the brand around its founding spirit of joy, cheekiness and denim, replacing muddled codes with a clear manifesto and democratic shows that speak to a global community. Now balancing Diesel with Maison Margiela, Martens argues that fashion should make people happy while resisting the dopamine churn of instant judgement.
“We are just consuming visuals and we don't really have the time to go deep into the clothes, the storytelling, the construction, where it comes from. It just needs to be like a hit. It gets a bit more superficial,” he shares with Imran Amed, BoF founder and CEO. “In 2025, a creative director has to be a socialite, has to be the king of social media and there's so many more things that all my colleagues and I have to do outside of that runway. The beauty of fashion is it's a process and it's a build-up and it’s not happening in one show – this is happening in three, four, five shows. So we need to respect that and celebrate that.”
This week on The BoF Podcast, Amed sits down with Martens to talk about learning every job in the studio, rebuilding Diesel around its founding values, as well as the pressure and possibility of this high-stakes season.
Key Insights:
Martens argues that the industry’s chase for quick hits has flattened nuance, yet he is determined to hold the line on depth and craft. “There is definitely a big part of me that loves to deep-dive into storytelling and construction, that likes to challenge construction and try to find new ways to create beauty and new ways to create clothes. I am very easily bored; I need to challenge myself. I love experimentation and that makes me happy.”
At Diesel, Martens began by reconnecting the house to its core DNA. “My biggest thing I did was resetting the whole thing and reminding everybody why Diesel was big in the first place. And I think that is something that is really important to never forget, that the success of a brand is the core reason why the brand is there and we should always connect to that and stay close to that.” He underscores the scale and breadth of the audience while keeping a unified voice. “We are so diverse in our markets, so we are basically talking to everybody. Every single person in the world could, in theory, be a Diesel person, but we do that with one message and with one collection.”
Martens is now continuing to turn the runway into a democratic platform that includes the wider community, not just the front row. “I think a fashion show for us is very important because it accelerates the awareness of the brand and the direction you want to go. [Diesel] is talking about democracy. It is at heart a lifestyle brand.” For Diesel’s Spring/Summer 2026 show next week, Martens is pushing shows into public space to meet people where they are. “The launch of that collection will be in the streets of Milan. It is going to be a three-and-a-half-hour egg hunt, showing the whole diversity of the town, and everybody can participate.”
The Business of Fashion Podcast