Lifting the veil of the secretive process behind a fashion show is something many designers have been tempted to toy with. For example, there was the Gucci fall 2020 show that former creative director Alessandro Michele conceived to display the multitiered ritual of designing, making, staging and viewing a fashion show.
At Diesel, Glenn Martens stretched the concept a step further by inviting anybody with a Wi-Fi connection to follow the whole show preparations via a 72-hour-long livestream on the brand’s official website, which granted behind-the-scenes access to the casting and styling process, the work in the atelier and the runway set up.
It was a choice that fits perfectly with Diesel’s democratic ethos and once again created buzz around the label in the lead-up to the show.
But everything comes with a price, and in this case the anticipation that usually precedes the revealing of a new collection was somewhat spoiled. Stepping into the show location on Wednesday, one could know more or less what to expect. The wishful thinking that there was one more coup de théâtre whose preparations eluded the Diesel cameras didn’t materialize.
The only touch of novelty was the unfamiliar faces popping up on the big screens installed around the location. A giant, collective Zoom call featuring 1,000 ticket holders who registered online made for the scenic set-up. Physical guests were seated (very closely) opposite the screens and the “Who’s watching who?” game helped kill time before the show.
What the gimmick best provided was a snapshot of who the Diesel audience is, and it’s clear they are anyone — from students tuning in from Istituto Marangoni’s classes to monster-masked faces and even aliens. Some were caught reacting to the collection as it paraded in front of their screens, others leveraged the opportunity to get some visibility on their own. In this sense, it was like any other fashion show.
As for the collection, as Martens said in a preview with WWD, it was a “melting pot” of the codes he has explored so far at the brand and that further restated his penchant for fabric manipulations through layering, coating and a lot of distressing.
It started with sleeker silhouettes and a more grown-up aesthetic that seemed to reference the corporate world with all the elongated tailoring and sartorial checkered fabrics — only here they had rubber coating or a disheveled effects that hinted these characters’ 9-to-5 shift was preceded (or followed) by a rave party.
The irreverent vibe exploded into furry looks that offered the most unexpected and fun part of the show, both in a series of monochrome, fitted blazers and coats and in popping sets covered in transparent mesh.
The layered constructions were strong also in a series of puffer jackets with devoré effects, revealing the lining or the padding through their mesh quilting. No amount of cameras can substitute for the feeling of seeing those effects up-close.
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