"It s my first men s collection—ever," Diesel Black Gold s Andreas Melbostad said backstage after his Florentine show. Pitti Uomo is a large and intimidating stage on which to make your debut, but if Melbostad was fazed by the occasion, he didn t show it. His approach was methodical and, more to the point, probably the right one given the circumstances. He didn t shoot out of the gate with an entirely new proposition; he identified the core of what Diesel does well and offered a stark, pared-back version of it that plays well with the biker-chick look he s been plying at Diesel Black Gold s womenswear. (To underscore the point, Melbostad sent out a few girls in custom looks.)
Diesel s hard-rocking fans should find plenty to tickle their studded, high-shine fancies. The flashier among them will thrill to the silver-foiled separates, and maybe the jeans fairly wallpapered in studs. This reviewer inclined more to the fur-trimmed hooded parkas. But whatever one liked or didn t here, there was no disputing that this was a palate-cleansing first step toward a new, more cohesive Black Gold—though it may be a misnomer to use the word "cleansing" for a collection this treated, oiled, foiled, and spackled. The D in "Diesel" might as well stand for "denim," but in view of the fact that DBG is the company s most luxurious line, Melbostad shied away from it in its plain form. Instead, he drew on the company s yen for denim innovation to create glossy, slick fabrics out of humble cotton that looked like patent leather, vinyl, and eel skin. A working knowledge of alchemy can only serve him well as he starts on collection number two.
