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

Glenn Martens was the odds-on favourite to succeed John Galliano at Maison Margiela. The moment Galliano announced his departure from the Belgian fashion house in December 2024, all eyes immediately turned to Martens.

There are several reasons why Martens immediately attracted attention. Not only is the Belgian designer already working at OTB (the parent company of Maison Margiela and Diesel, where he also currently serves as creative director), but his surrealist style often involves deconstructing classic garments. He did this both at the brand Y/Project where he was head for 12 years, and at Diesel. In addition to his distinctive style, there are also parallels to be found in his career path and that of Martin Margiela, founder of the Belgian fashion house.

Hints of a Margiela career for Glenn Martens as early as 2018

First of all, there are the obvious hints and similarities between the two creatives. Both Margiela and Martens graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Strikingly, both also went to work for the French fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier after graduating.

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In 2018, Martens took part in Diesel's Red Tag Project. Here, he applied his 'formal-meets-street' aesthetic, which appealed to Renzo Rosso, founder of the Italian group OTB and fashion brand Diesel. Rosso described Martens as follows: “Glenn has had a Belgian education. He has that typical practical, yet surreal, Margiela-esque style.”

"A Margiela-esque style": What exactly is that? The Belgian fashion house, founded in the 1980s, is nowadays synonymous with the term "deconstruction". It is a term that was given by the press to one of the first collections by designer Martin Margiela. The designer's new aesthetic was difficult to grasp, so the word "deconstruction" was used.

In practice, this often boils down to reinterpreting classic items or applying materials in an unusual way. For example, Margiela made a jumper entirely out of socks - the heel was used for the elbows and shoulders. There was also a top made entirely from leather gloves and he used the silk of linings to make dresses, the seams of which were still clearly visible. The items will always be reminiscent of their original form, but have been completely taken out of context. Margiela thus showed his respect for traditional couture and his fascination with the construction of clothing.

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Martens and Margiela: Belgian designers with a love for deconstruction

Anyone who looks at Martens’ work sees this reflected at Y/Project and Diesel. For Y/Project, he often comically enlarged items, such as an enormous Ugg boot (which was not actually from the brand Ugg), denim jackets with extremely long sleeves or trousers with legs that were too long. At Diesel, the element of deconstruction is found in 'double jeans' and cut-up hoodies.

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Martens' career makes him a logical successor at Maison Margiela. Although there are many similarities, the fashion house will always enter a new era with a new creative director. Margiela himself rarely took centre stage and emphasised the commitment of the 'maison'. With Martens, a star designer will be at the helm. When he will present his first collection for the Belgian fashion house is not yet known at this time, but expect the unexpected.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.NL. It was translated to English using AI and edited by Rachel Douglass.

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