How Glenn Martens has been preparing for his position at Maison Margiela for years

Glenn Martens was considered the designated successor to John Galliano at Maison Margiela. As soon as Galliano announced his farewell to the Belgian fashion house in December 2024, all eyes were on Martens.

There are several reasons why Martens immediately attracted attention. Martens is not only already active at OTB (the parent company of Maison Margiela and Diesel), but also often uses deconstruction of classic clothing for his surrealistic style. He did this with the Y/Project brand, which he headed for for twelve years, and diesel. In addition to his characteristic style, there are also parallels in his career path and that of Martin Margiela, the founder of the Belgian fashion house.

Already in 2018 there were indications of a Margiela career for Glenn Martens

First of all, there are obvious information and similarities. Both Margiela and Martens completed the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. It is striking that both were also active for the French fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier after completing their completion.

In 2018, Martens took part in the Red Tag Project from Diesel. Here he applied his “Formal Meets Street” aesthetics, which was well received by Renzo Rosso, founder of the Italian group OTB and the fashion brand Diesel. Rosso described Martens as follows: “Glenn has a Belgian training. He has this typically practical, but still surrealistic, Margiela-like style. “

“A Margiela-like style”: What exactly is that? The Belgian fashion house, founded in the 1980s, is now synonymous with the term “deconstruction”. It is a term used by the press for one of the first collections of the designer Martin Margiela. The new aesthetics of the designer was difficult to believe, so the word “deconstruction” fell.

In practice, this often means reinterpreting classic clothing or using materials in an unusual way. Martin Margiela made a sweater completely out of socks – the heel was used for the elbows and shoulders. There is also a top that consists of leather gloves, and he used the silk of food fabrics to make clothes. The seams of the dress were still clearly visible. The clothing will always be reminiscent of their original shape, but are completely torn from the context. Martin Margiela thus showed his respect for traditional couture and his fascination for the construction of clothing.

Martens and Margiela: Belgian designer with a preference for deconstruction

Anyone who looks at Martens’ work will recognize this at Y/Project and Diesel. For example, he often increased clothing for Y/Project in a unique way, such as the huge Ugg boat (which was not really from the UGG brand), but also jackets with enormously long sleeves or pants with too long legs. In diesel, the element of the deconstruction can be found in “double jeans” and cut hoodies.

Martens’ career makes him a logical successor to Maison Margiela. Although there are many similarities, the fashion house with a new creative director will always herald a new era. Margiela himself rarely came to the fore and emphasized the use of the “Maison”. With Martens, a star designer takes the lead. It is not yet known when he will present his first collection for the Belgian fashion house, but you should expect the unexpected.