Diesel puts on a superlative show in Milan

The countdown is on. Five, four, three, two, one! A siren sounds. The packed Allianz Cloud sports hall in Milan holds its breath. The show can begin, offering, as Diesel had promised, "a truly democratic fashion show" to the almost 5,000 spectators, including the company's teams; students from fashion schools and, above all, 3,000 members of the general public who had come to discover the brand's spring-summer 2023 collection on Wednesday.

The first mannequins enter the arena at full speed, bypassing the giant inflatable dolls (the largest inflatable structure in the world, according to the house), which tumbled to the centre of the stage, extending their arms and legs like disproportionate tentacles towards the stands. The silhouettes look almost tiny, making up Diesel's cool new tribe.

The elaborate collection reviews the thousand-and-one ways of dressing in denim, and above all the countless possibilities offered by denim through all sorts of treatments, washes, dyes, special prints, textural effects and finishes. The palette ranges from a faded ash-blue to a yellow-white, to the darker notes of grey, black and brown, before exploding into bright orange and pink.

Trousers, jackets, tops, mini and maxi skirts, coats, but also suits, leggings and sweaters and even santiags and stiletto boots with pockets, strictly in denim; nothing is missing. Creative director Glenn Martens takes last season's wardrobe and elevates it to a new level with a virtuoso touch of madness.

The garments are full of details and surprises, such as denim dresses treated in the manner of devoured velvet, extended with an embroidery effect in a transparent organza veil, or a denim coat with a wide neckline, whose bushy fringed edges are reminiscent of the fur edges of glamorous coats. Elsewhere, ensembles are completely slashed with a cutter, forming thin strips between the garment's seams, offering an ultra-chic version of ripped denim.

Diesel's Belgian designer continues the experimentation that is so dear to him and that made his Y/Project brand famous. He has no equal for playing with the most unexpected constructions. For example, a coat made of 15,000 Diesel tags aged and brushed or a pair of jeans stretched upwards to form a corset.

Blue canvas squares are assembled as they are, leaving the excess fabric along the sleeves and legs, undulating like ruffles. The belt wraps from the waist to the bust in a single movement. Sometimes it spirals around the upper body to form a top, while a belted long jacket becomes a "trompe l'oeil" miniskirt jacket.

"Glenn is not a stylist, he is a couturier. He's managed to do something totally new by putting the 44-year history of Diesel into this collection. He has managed to transform our DNA into something extraordinary," enthused Renzo Rosso, the brand's founder and chairman of the OTB fashion group, on the sidelines of the show.

"I have passed the baton to a very special person. With him, the brand is living a great moment," he said.

Diesel puts on a superlative show in Milan

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