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Following widespread anticipation, Diesel's artistic director, Glenn Martens, has been announced as Maison Margiela's new creative director, set to fill the shoes of John Galliano.
The heavily speculated announcement came on 28th January 2025 following Martens's exit from Y/Project in September 2024, after 11 years at the Paris-based label. However, he will remain at Diesel for the foreseeable future and juggle the two simultaneously.
After ten years as creative director at Maison Margiela, on 11th December, Galliano took to Instagram to announce that he would be leaving the house, stating 'I want to celebrate the joy I found in the various ways we communicated creatively and worked with different artistic cultures, theater, cinema, digital, embracing all these cultures to celebrate fashion'.
However, he remains secretive about his next steps. 'The rumours... Everyone wants to know, and everyone wants to dream. When the time is right, all will be revealed,' Galliano stated. 'For now, I take this time to express my immense gratitude. I continue to atone and will never stop dreaming' he continues.
Galliano is one of fashion's most highly regarded couturiers, taking Margiela to new heights following his appointment as creative director in 2014. This came following his scandalous exit from Dior in 2011, accused of drunkenly making racist insults. His redemption journey since then is followed in the documentary High and Low: John Galliano, available on Amazon Prime.
Renzo Rosso, founder and chairman of the international fashion group, Only The Brave, hinted at Martens's takeover, stating, 'Glenn is a couturier, not just a designer. Like John Galliano, couturiers have a different way of designing. Every single piece has a story to tell'.
Martin Margiela, founder of Maison Margiela, and Glenn Martens share a similar background, both graduating from Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts. They both moved to Paris and began to work for Jean Paul Gaultier with the hopes of breaking into the fashion world, Margiela doing so in 1984 and Martens in 2008. After his appointment at Diesel in 2020, Martens drove a dramatic shift at the label, driving the brand towards a Gen-Z customer base and growing sales by 13 per cent.
Galliano is famous for creating a story behind his clothes. He is known for briefing models on the backstory of their looks, seen through Kate Moss who he dressed as a runaway princess in his SS94 runway and Gwendoline Christie as a sultry doll in a recent Margiela couture show. Vogue's very own Mark Guiducci hailed the Margiela Artisanal spring 2024 show as 'the John Galliano show my generation has been waiting for.' Galliano has not only taken over the runway world but also mainstream popular culture, dressing Kim Kardashian and Zendaya for the Met Gala, as well as creating products such as the viral split-toe tabi which enabled sales to grow by 23 per cent.
Whilst Diesel is a more commercial brand than Margiela, Renzo Rosso affirmed his belief in Martens. 'After Martin, who gave life to the Maison and its unique Artisanal line, and John, who made it the most cutting-edge couture house in the world, I am proud to have a third couturier at its helm. Glenn, who studied at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts like Martin, has already shown his prowess and vision in couture' said Rosso.
And from Glenn Martens himself: 'I feel extremely honoured to join the amazing Maison Margiela, a truly unique house that has been inspiring the world for decades. And I thank Renzo for the trust he is putting in me'. Many look forward excitedly to see how Martens carries forth the conceptual yet witty aesthetic he brings to Diesel into Margiela and whether he can fill the shoes of Galliano's incredible legacy.
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