Glenn Martens, fashion’s live wire, is causing sparks once again. After the closure of Y/Project, today’s news confirms that the reedy Belgian is headed to the house that Martin Margiela built. He brings to Maison Margiela all the technical knowledge gained at Diesel and the Glennisms he developed at his own line.
First among them is Martens’s use of wire, allowing for a permanently windswept or scrunched look, but which relates to a much larger tendency of his to encourage customization of his clothing through other means, including snaps, buttons, and lacing. Martens’s interactive choose-your-own adventure approach has spread like waves throughout the industry and has made him one of the most referenced designers by students.
Also igniting the imagination are the designer’s thigh-grazing boots and pant boots, which break down the boundaries between accessories and garments and, even more important, have earned Rihanna’s stamp of approval. This blurring of categories continues with Martens’s deceptive “she’s come undone drapes” and garments that seem to sit on top of the body instead of on it. But he really pushes it to the max with his trompe l’oeil body prints, especially the ones he created as an extension of his one-off couture collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier, which was an absolute triumph, a perfect decantation of the JPG archive through Martens’s sensibilities in a way that felt unbound by time.
That’s not to say that Martens doesn’t enjoy a historical flourish, he’s dressed Chappel Roan as a medieval warrior, and Flemish ruffs, corsets, and other details common to Old Master paintings show up with regularity in his designs. Another recurrence are small slits that expose the skin, or the fabric beneath, in cheeky ways. It’s that insouciance, coupled with his artisanal savoir faire that makes Martens feel like a good fit for the house of Margiela. Below, we celebrate some of Glenn Martens’s most notable Glennisms.
Wired Up
Let Me Hear Your Body Talk
Couture to the Max
Get Waisted
Collaboration Nation
Bootleggers
Vive la Belgique!
Historical Romance
Sliced and Diced
Scrunchie Hems
Trompe Cards
Fronting
Self-Service Dressing
The Mystery Man
