On Sunday afternoon, designer Glenn Martens was in New York City prepping for his Met Gala debut at the Diesel offices in Chelsea. Monday would mark the creative director of Diesel and Y/Project’s first time attending the most anticipated evening in fashion, and the brand’s first time dressing guests for it.
For the landmark event, Martens designed three custom Diesel looks inspired by the Met Gala’s “The Garden of Time” dress code and the Costume Institute’s “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibition theme for pop legend Kylie Minogue; Italian rockstar and Måneskin lead vocalist Damiano David, and his girlfriend, singer and actress Dove Cameron.
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Throughout each custom look, Martens designed into the idea of “sleeping for thousands of years and reawakening,” he said, noting the importance of upholding Diesel’s democratic house codes and techniques while differentiating the red carpet looks with details inspired by each of the talents’ personalities.
For instance, fresh off of her megawatt Las Vegas residency, Minogue (whom Martens described as his “ultimate pop icon” and a “diamond,” whose joy, happiness and spirit of inclusion embodies Diesel’s ethos), literally shined as she walked the 2024 Met Gala red carpet hand-in-hand with the creative director, who wore a classic black tuxedo.
The pop star showcased the theme in a simple tank top like “every single girl wears to bed,” Martens said of her denim rib knit slip with burned out, signature devoré technique, the dress dissolving and artfully decaying on her body with trompe l’oeil effect. The look took 14 days to complete, with 500,000 Swarovski crystals elevating the humble fabrication and silhouette to red carpet level. To complete the look, Minogue donned a crystal embroidered denim clutch and Oval D sandals.
“It’s a little bit more psychological than a classic [runway] creation,” he said of the design process. Minogue’s sparkling personality was front and center, David’s rock n’ roll ethos and Cameron’s Old Hollywood elegance and sweet demeanor were amplified in each of their red carpet looks, he said.
For Cameron, Martens designed a pink distressed sheer floral print chiffon dress, using the devoré technique on a layer of transparent tulle. The gown, composed of 60 meters of tulle and 60 meters of chiffon, took more than 20 hours to cut and more than 40 hours to construct its gradient, hand-frayed and embroidered flowers, which cascade down the gown’s bodice to sweeping, lengthy sleeves and a long train. To top it off, Cameron accessorized the look with matching clear Diesel platform shoes in printed flower Perspex with signature molded Oval D logo heel, napa leather bag with layers of disheveled tulle and chiffon flowers and Brilliant Earth ring.
To celebrate David, whom Martens said was the embodiment of the Diesel man, and his Italian rock star essence, the creative director utilized the same signature Diesel devoré technique (as seen in the brand’s Spring 2024 runway show), on a classic black tuxedo in wool interwoven with a polyester yarn to reveal David’s skin underneath, making his myriad tattoos a focal point of the look’s disintegrating details.
WWD chatted with Martens about the looks and his approach to crafting red carpet glamour with Diesel’s signature codes.
WWD: Welcome to New York. How exciting, this is your first Met. How do you feel?
Glenn Martens: How do I feel? I will feel much better on Tuesday morning. It’s a good production, I didn’t expect it to be such a massive day today, but it’s beautiful.
WWD: You’ve been seeing that the red carpet at the Met is the biggest red carpet of the year. What is your impression, and what do you think you’re going to find?
G.M.: Probably every single beautiful person in the world out there. It will be a beautiful assemblage of glamorous people, and I think it’s going to go by in two seconds.
WWD: Absolutely. Diesel, historically, has not been a red carpet brand. However, you have been designing dresses that feel very red carpet. How is it different designing those versus runway looks?
G.M.: Obviously when I have Diesel on the runway, it’s about exposing my creativity, but is very much linked to what I want, and what the brand wants. Designing for talent, we really have them in mind — who is that person, what does that person mean to me and to the world? It’s about celebrating their personality, so it’s a little bit more psychological than a classic creation.
WWD: Talk to me about the people that you’re taking with you to the Met.
G.M.: I’m lucky that with the first Met for Diesel, and for me, we have three amazing talents. I’m going with one of my most iconic pop icons ever, Kylie Minogue. She’s really iconic in my world, and emulates ultimate joy, happiness, freshness and is like a sparkle by herself. I think that’s very important for Diesel, it’s a very good match. Then, we have also Damiano David.
WWD: He’s such a legend. He’s only 25, but totally killing it.
G.M.: Apparently the Rolling Stones have proclaimed him as a successor, he’s the new Mick Jagger. He’s a rock n’ roll guy, he’s hot and Italian, which is also great for Diesel, and he’s taking his girlfriend, Dove Cameron. She’s really like a flower, a human flower. We’re very lucky because somewhere, somehow, we have all the Diesel people that we love, and the whole Diesel community recognizes.
WWD: We’re very lucky right now, and the audience is very lucky, because we have to dress Dove is going to wear — do you mind showing it to us and giving us a behind-the-scenes look?
G.M.: For Dove, it’s a totally sheer dress. The theme of the Met Gala is sleeping beauty, so we have created a quite classic Hollywood gown, which I think is fitting for Dove — she has this Old Hollywood glamour.
We really wanted to go with a classic, glorious Victorian dress, but as if she’s slept in it for thousands and thousands of years with the sheer flowers dissolving on her body. The amazing thing is also the train within the sleeves — it’s a sleeve train, so you get a quite dramatic amount of fabric that’s transparent, with all the chiffon dissolving. It’s very light. There will be a corset — the the fabric is as if it’s falling off her body.
WWD: The theme is sleeping beauty and this feels to me very ethereal and even magical. You’ve done flowers before — this is very much the house of Glenn Martens for Diesel. It’s a new day because you have it at this level — this could be a couture dress.
G.M.: It could be, it took a lot.
WWD: How long have you been working on this?
G.M.: The design was quite directional. I met Dove in Milan a few months ago, and we directly knew what we wanted to do with her. She really played the game super easy. The thing is, the big work is the devoré, it’s a chemical technique on top of the tulle. You have to measure quite well so you don’t burn the dress out. That was actually the biggest work because actually, the shape is quite traditional — it’s a bit of puffy sleeves, a little drape around the waist. It’s also important because Diesel is also an active brand. We’re not going to do crazy constructions, that’s really not our DNA — it’s something I do maybe for Y/Project, but we really wanted to have an easy-to-wear dress.
WWD: How was the process with Dove? Did you speak to her throughout the process? Do you show sketches?
G.M.: She came with her boyfriend to the headquarters in Milan — we were working first with Damiano and while we were fitting him, we discussed with Dove what her dress potentially could be. We had, of course, dresses taken out from our show, which had the same technique and she loved. So we adjusted the dress to her skin tone — the tulle is in her skin tone, but it was a continuation of something we had on the runway — she fell in love with it, we fell in love with her and it was a perfect match — which we made bigger and better.
WWD: Well nothing gets more Diesel than this platform shoe, in which you have flowers and the D [logo].
G.M.: We have double D added, but this is now a signature heel we launched a few seasons ago. Dove likes to be a little bit taller, who doesn’t, so we have this beautiful platform. It’s subtle, but I think it’s going to be a nice sight from the back of the dress. When you turn around, [the dress] is quite transparent at the moment, so I think it will be quite beautiful to have a little flash of metallic. Also, Dove has amazing tattoos on her back, so we really wanted to dissolve [the fabric] quite intensely on the shoulders to see her tattoos. Also, the little Victorian [button] details and a little bit of romance to stay within the Met concept.
WWD: Let’s talk about this tuxedo.
G.M.: The tuxedo for Damiano was the same thing. They both have been sleeping together for 2,000 years, and they’re reawakening. The tuxedo shape is quite standard, but is cropped because Damiano wanted to have a little rock energy. [It’s like] they woke up and looked gorgeous. You also have the shirt with the transparencies, the shirt is very standard, but we aren’t sure if he’s going to wear it, because he also has great tattoos — on the legs, everywhere. I think he’s quite into showing his tattoos also, so the shirt is there as an option.
WWD: I want to see Kylie’s dress, I know we have a sketch here and then will see the whole thing. Can you walk us through the sketches?
G.M.: Kylie’s dress is an essential jersey dress. It’s a tank top that every single girl wears to bed. It’s really a tank top ripped denim dress. It’s a knit we’ve been developing for a little while where its indigo yarns that are knitted in a rib — we had it in a show in the past — and then there’s devoré on top of it. There’s a polyester inside the knit which shows the transparency. We worked on that, but I think what’s also nice with Diesel, is we’re not going to go too crazy. So it’s really a tank top dress that’s quite long, with a train that’s draped around her sleeve. Again, it’s as if she’s been sleeping for thousands of years, so it’s dissolving on her body, emphasizing and contouring her body shape. Afterward, it’s embellished with Swarovski crystals — there are thousands of Swarovski crystals. It comes with a little bag in denim, and the same shape of the dress.
We’re very happy. Kylie, for me, is the ultimate pop icon. She’s a diamond by herself — it’s as if she comes from her own Swarovski planet and she shines.
WWD: What I love the most is also the fact that these are themes that you’ve been touching in the past. You’ve had florals in the past; I love the devoré technique that you use throughout that is so relevant. You even have it here when talking about Dove’s dress.
G.M.: [During the fitting] Dove was like an explosion of joy yesterday.
WWD: And Damiano is perfect for Diesel.
G.M.: They all are. It’s all the generations.
WWD: Why don’t we go and see where we are with Kylie’s dress.
G.M.: As I was saying, it’s a ribbed dress, which is great because it’s the most comfortable item in the world, and the transparent parts are all crystallized. It’s, of course, based on her body shape and has been literally dissolving through time.
WWD: I love that it’s a jersey dress, so comfortable. Diesel is such an accessible brand — it’s the perfect price-point and feels very democratic, and I like the idea of Diesel at the Met. It’s so interesting because the Met is so exclusive, yet all your shows, you always go the extra mile to include students or the audiences at the last show, giving tickets to people to come to the show a year ago [1,000 ticket holders who registered online watched Diesel’s fall show via a giant, collective Zoom call ]. I think you’re going to bring a very different demographic at the Met and I think that’s wonderful. Have you thought about that?
G.M.: Well, we always wants to be alternative to luxury, so that’s technically what we are presenting with all these see-through dresses that are alternatives to classic couture gowns. It is a great dress, it’s like a chiffon dissolved; there’s extra comfort int here. We have to stay true to our values; at the end of the day, it will be also great for Kylie, but it’s not your classic couture gown.
WWD: You’re going to the Met for the first time with Kylie Minogue as your date. Did you ever envision this?
G.M.: No, I can hardly. When Anna Wintour asked us to participate, I thought about who would be the first person to go with me to the Met Gala. Kylie was that person. We called her and she directly said yes, it was quite amazing. She’s one of the most lovely celebrities and talents that I’ve met in my life — she’s really true to her legend.
WWD: What are you wearing?
G.M.: I’m just wearing a tuxedo, very simple. Everything is around her — I’m there to help her, to be with her. I’m very proud and honored to be her date, but the focus is on Kylie.
WWD: Are you happy being in New York? Do you like being in New York?
G.M.: I always love being in New York. It will always be one of my biggest regrets to never have lived here, but I think now it’s complicated moving Diesel to New York, or Y/Project. I’m very happy where I am and where my teams are, so I think I will stay there longer, but with New York, every single excuse I have to come here, I’ll take it.
WWD: What do you do when you’re here?
G.M.: There’s a lot of partying and cocktails, but also work — I always have something to do. But also, just even walking around.
WWD: After doing those dresses and getting a taste of couture-like garments, is Diesel Couture in the plans anytime soon?
G.M.: No, never. We really have to be true to who we are, but it doesn’t mean we can’t make some magic on the runway… Whenever we do something creative or explosive, the starting point is always price-centric materials — it requires basics, so it is always cotton, it is always denim, but the whole creativity and luxury is really focused on the treatments, workmanship and craftsmanship, without being hand-embroidered. Here, the Swarovski is also a treatment, as we didn’t want to start hand-embroidering the dress for Dove. It’s a treatment. I think it’s very challenging for me and my teams, and also very rewarding that we create those big moments, but in a very different way than all the other houses. I think that’s where we are going to stay.
WWD: This is the last question. The theme of dressing for the night is the Garden of Time: which is your favorite fashion period?
G.M.: I’m a sucker for my teenage style of the ’90s, and Dior, Galliano, what can I say?