Diesel: Glenn Martens, Renzo Rosso reveal their collaboration's first fruits

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Mar 24, 2021

Glenn Martens joined Diesel as creative director almost six months ago. While an anticipation of his work featured in the new store concepts presented in February, on March 24 Martens showcased his first creative efforts with Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel, unveiling a 24-item capsule collection labelled Diesel x Diesel.

The duo has delved into thousands of archive items to draw inspiration for the collection, editing select looks by giving them a fresh twist. “Diesel is known worldwide for its irreverence, daring and, at the same time, its universal appeal. Denim, the essential element of past and contemporary fashion, is its engine. Whether because they are subversive, ironic or sometimes simply adventurous, there has always been something more to say about Diesel clothes,” said Martens in the collection’s presentation. “With this mood in mind, Renzo wanted to create a multi-level capsule collection, breathing new life into vintage Diesel items and upgrading them to 2021, a time when the world is profoundly different from how it was in the 1980s. He called the collection Diesel x Diesel and I adore this meta-referential name,” added Martens.

The collection, featuring among others a coat in shearling, cotton, leather and jacquard wool, straight-cut jeans with leather details, a varsity-style jacket and a leather gilet, goes hand in hand with a new advertising campaign. “[The campaign] is entitled ‘Fake Smiles’, a title that is more to do with exaggeration than artifice. Inspired by a famous Diesel mantra, ‘Fake Smiles’ is about our constant pursuit of happiness. The campaign’s images feature subjects in mundane daily scenarios, all masked behind ultra-joyful expressions, creating a surreal imagery that evokes a sense of nostalgia and captures the spirit of the decade that inspired the collection,” said Martens.