Diesel’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection showcased at Milan Fashion Week was a blend of temptation and protection, an unusual yet intriguing concept that was hard to ignore. Creative director Glenn Martens knows how to put on a show, and this season was no different. Diesel’s latest collection was inspired by sexual protection and presented a ravishing showcase of its signature denim designs reimagined with shredded semi-sheer panels reminiscent of barrier contraception methods.
The invitation for the show was a Durex box branded with Diesel’s signature, hinting at what was to come. The collection was presented on a red-carpeted runway featuring a mountain of 200,000 Diesel-branded contraceptives cascading to the ground. Diesel’s playful and provocative marketing style was on full display with this unique set design.
“We like to play at Diesel, and we are serious about it,” said Glenn Martens in a statement.
The first look was quintessentially Diesel, promoting a distressed leather jacket with faded lettering matched with worn-in denim that doubled as boots. Damaged tops were fashioned with chipped markings and thin foils, acting as a window to the human form. Digitally-printed jeans arrived with similar decor, hopping onto T-shirt dresses, skirts, and more. Minced denim was frayed to perfection, while baggy bottoms donned “FOR SUCSEXFUL LIVING” text encouraging safe relations. Woven garments were falling apart on models in motion, working alongside glossy puffers with biological membrane graphics.
Elsewhere, peeling paint was splashed onto mini dresses with a ’90s breeze while others revealed vibrant sketches beneath. Seamlessly aged into modernity, leather garments were dipped in copper pigment and battered with metallic, orange, and green tones. Furthermore, billowing waxed coats came alive like monsters on the runway, featuring slimy detailing that melded with sinister energy. Finally, dated Diesel graphics dressed further attire with squinting eyes and grinning lips that looked to be taken from vintage campaigns. According to the brand, the collection explored “freedom, pleasure, experimentation, and play.”
Since becoming creative director in October 2020, Belgian designer Glenn Martens has steered Diesel towards more experimental uses of denim and upcycling. This collection alone featured leftover nylon that was coated with another kind of plastic and heated, deadstock faux fur painted to look almost like liquid, and biker jackets that were blow-torched and transformed into structural pieces.
Diesel’s Past Collections
Diesel has made set design something of a talking point during fashion week under Martens’ direction. In February 2022, at Martens’ post-pandemic runway return, the label greeted attendees with five inflatables striking a series of cheeky poses described by Diesel as “confident, exuberant and proud.” Each was modelled on a real person and ranged from around 25 feet to 55 feet wide
Then, for its Spring-Summer 2023 presentation last September, Diesel erected an enormous inflatable that earned a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest-ever blow-up sculpture. The label also invited the public to attend the show, breaking with fashion week’s exclusive norms to host a whopping 5,000 people.
Their latest stunt at Milan Fashion Week, made for yet another viral moment under Martens’ direction – a move that promotes both the label’s new collection and safe sex.
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