After six years of tearing down the walls between luxury runway spectacle and democratic street culture, Glenn Martens is officially stepping down as Creative Director of Diesel. Concluding a transformative era that repositioned the 1978-born brand at the absolute epicenter of the global fashion dialogue, the Belgian designer will deliver his final Spring/Summer 2027 collection at Milan Fashion Week before stepping away to focus exclusively on his role at Maison Margiela.
Taking the creative helm in 2020, Martens turned what could have been a standard archival revival into a radical exercise in subversive materic experimentation. Under his direction, humble denim was stretched, acid-washed, peeled, and distorted into hyper-conceptual silhouettes, without ever severing ties to the pop accessibility and irreverent hedonism that originally defined the house.
Martens’ legacy at Diesel extends far beyond product design—it lies in his monumental, anti-elitist runway spectacles. From staging massive, open-access raves under pourings of rain to filling arenas with thousands of students and public attendees, he continuously challenged the exclusionary nature of modern fashion, proving that high design can coexist with broad cultural democracy.
As parent company OTB Group and founder Renzo Rosso prepare for Diesel’s next chapter, Martens redirects his undivided focus to Maison Margiela, where he was appointed Creative Director in early 2025. By proving that an established global giant could be completely re-wired from the inside out, Glenn Martens leaves behind a undeniable truth: denim isn’t just a basic uniform, but an endless canvas for radical, populist creation.
Photo: Alexandre Tabaste