With an education in both interior design and fashion design, Martens focuses on incorporating creativity into everyday wear during the design process, "80% of the collection or clothing is related to reality." The starting point is always an item like a real jumper."
By deconstructing these basic pieces, adjusting size proportions and dressing rules, Martens' Y/Project has gradually made a name for itself in the fashion world.
Pure cotton, velvet, knitting blend, the simplest fabric with the most amazing way to interpret, only photos can not even distinguish the internal and external structure and wear layers of clothing, although Martens also admitted that he sometimes played "too much", but he still enjoy it, "the benefit of Y/Project design is that, We don't really have to worry too much about making mistakes. It's fun to try and make mistakes."
In Martens' own words, Y/Project's fashion is "fun," "sexy," "structured," "pragmatic," and "eclectic."
In the eyes of the mother, seeing these scenes that can not necessarily be met when motion sickness, it is true that the child is crazy.
Even he admits that the volume of Y/Project's voice has been kept in a limited range because of its idealistic and quixotic design, and its refusal to enter the sinking market with logo pieces.
Another turning point came in the 2017-2018 fashion seasons, when Y/Project's layered stacked T-shirts, shirts, spring earrings, slacks with a Front Cut that gashes at the base of the thigh, and layered pleated boots that can be worn as pants began to appear in circles, Appeared in street shoots and red carpets with the likes of Rihanna, Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid.
In 2017, Martens received the ANDAM Fashion Award in Paris for his work on Y/Project, receiving the trophy from OTB Group President Renzo Rosso and starting another role.
In June 2018, Diesel unveiled the Red Tag collection, led by Glenn Martens, in Milan, which is a follow-up to the ANDAM Awards and has now made him Diesel's first creative director.
"I only consciously bought my first brand when I was 15, and it was Diesel. My brother is a firefighter and he doesn't know anything about Y/Project, but my brother did buy Diesel."
Martens clearly recognises the difference between the two in terms of impact on the wearer and the industry. Experimentation takes precedence, with Y/Project focusing on tailoring and Diesel on fabrics, especially tannins.
Therefore, in his first Diesel physical show after taking office, a series of innovative designs with tannin fabric as the core made people overwhelmed. The details of leather jeans created by artisans with haute couture techniques, as well as dresses and coats made of multiple denim scraps, fully reflected the vitality of this fabric.
And at Glenn Martens's first couture show, Jean Paul Gaultier's Spring/Summer 2022 couture show, he got his first real exposure to the heart of haute couture when hundreds of artificial coral embroidery adorned Gaultier's signature striped sailor suit, With its fluffy, sweeping twists and folds linked to a loose, floor-length corset, and a woven ribbon top paired with wide-leg jeans, Martens can look different in different propositions, even with the same fabric.
'I took some of Gaultier's most iconic elements and translated them into my own language,' he confessed in an interview for the April issue of Costume and Beauty VOGUE.
Gaultier always went for very elegant, sophisticated silhouettes. Gaultier invented many iconic elements in the history of fashion, and I took some of the elements that touched me and tried to reinvent them in a Y/Project way.
He also bluntly expressed the difference between couture and ready-to-wear creation: "Through the couture series, I have the opportunity to try more creativity, which is very different from the ready-to-wear series, without the constraints of external conditions such as budget, I can focus more on the design itself, and have the opportunity to do some more technical design, which is something I don't have the opportunity to do."
Martens' democratised perspective determined that he was willing to experiment more, so in the Y/Project 2022 autumn/Winter menswear show, many of the trompe l 'oeil elements inspired by Jean Paul Gaultier's spring/summer 1996 collection appeared in a bolder stance in every corner, from coats to suits to tights. So that all fashion lovers can participate.
Located in the Y/Project studio in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, next door to young designers such as Simon Porte Jacquemus, Vetements and Christelle Koche, Martens is now one of the most difficult names to ignore. Faced with two teams of vastly different sizes, Y/Project and Diesel, and cooperation offers from time to time, he dealt with it in a surprisingly calm way, working, sleeping, working.
This is perhaps the part of Martens's schedule he enjoys the most, even though it's filled with more and more to-do items.
Instead of letting him appear in the lens of various big photographers, it is better to give him another job that can challenge himself and hide in his own bland world: In order to facilitate Paris and Milan, I live near the airport, do not like to socialize, and like to sit alone in the corner for quiet thinking during lunch time. There are only two plates in the apartment, rarely buy food to cook, like to indulge in French fries during weekend breaks, do not like to exercise, and need to C in the morning and A in the evening (coffee and wine) when I am tired and anxious. But admitting that I dress the same every day...
Shortly after the conclusion of the Jean Paul Gaultier by Glenn Martens couture collection, Glenn Martens was selected as the jury president of the 37th Hyeres International Fashion Festival, The fashion awards, which have championed young talents such as Viktor & Rolf, Anthony Vaccarello, Julien Dossena, Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, Now the baton of discerning eyes has passed to Martens.
