MFW: Mics Off, Cameras On at Diesel

In anticipation of Diesel’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection, the Italian denim darling teased a voyeuristic approach by presenting a Truman Show-esque 24-hour live broadcast of the styling, casting, ateliers and runway set up. They announced the stream by posing the following question to their audience: Do you like to watch?

Given Diesel’s audience is one that leaps at runways lined with free condoms, skirts the size of belts and zealous body-conscious attire, the answer was an ubiquitous, resounding yes. This double entendre was fitting. It riffs on the kink of gaining sexual gratification by viewing another but also plays into the discourse around surveillance culture and excessive consumption. Further still, it propelled Diesel’s propensity for democratizing an industry that is so often gatekept.

In pulling back the curtain, Diesel lifted the veil to their stringent cam girls—that is, those who tune in every season via some sort of screen. On the runway, the tessellating Zoom boxes of a thousand eager onlookers provided the backdrop. If the response to the aforementioned question wasn’t clear, Diesel’s customers in their alien ensembles and monster-masked visages made it apparent. Mics off and camera on, under his eye. (His referring to Glenn Martens, of course).

The presentation, as the house explained, was one “uniquely voyeuristic”, serving as part theatre, part interactive experience. The coup came in the presentation model itself, allowing the collection to stand alone as a melding of genres.

Fabrics were manipulated in Diesel’s signature distressing throughout the collection. A prominent motif emerged in ribbed fabrics that redefined acid wash, with necklines appearing molten and completed with mesh. This was explored in lace textiles and tartan prints, or paired with neutral ecru denim and latex vinyl.

Still, within Diesel’s revved-up house codes, the collection felt more mature with laminated longline vests crafted from cropped blazers left with the hems exposed and ‘office siren’ check midi dresses and corsetted jackets. The nucleus ushered in an indeed sleaze sensibility. Diesel rendered the tropes of the decade—namely leopard print and jacquard florals—into draped evening dresses and floor-grazing coats.

Cohesive indeed. But a quality of the hand-touched bricolage and intentional distressing Diesel is known for made pieces instantly covetable—especially the line of already sordid shearling and a punchy Y2K ‘Myspace’ colour palette.

A new shoe silhouette featuring a pointed-toe boot that just licked the ankle was especially delicious and could contend as the brand’s new ‘It’ item.

What Diesel did was present more than new season items, however. Instead, they touted theoretical questions that demand to be answered by fashion’s collective. Specifically: What mandate does the physical format have in an increasingly omnichannel world?

The COVID-19 pandemic forced designers to conjure innovative, digital-lead ways of presenting their collections, and with the majority of fashion customers watching shows through pixelated screens, is this virtual hybrid as real as tuning in person? Martens seems to be aware of this shift—why not pander to the thousands that tune in for the broadcast by lionizing them in a show?

Perhaps this also ponders what a “live” show is anymore. Is it a hushed procession of reverence in the aristocratic salons of courtiers? Is it staging a show in stadiums so collections can be viewed at their most egalitarian? Is it placing onlookers on the runway, their online renderings staring back at the guests who occupied the physical show space?

And in a world preoccupied with the concerns of artificial intelligence, Martens gleans hope in his use of technology by returning its usage to its original intent: forging connections. No reCAPHTCA or Turing test is required to determine who is fit to view, just a melting of timezones and geographic lines in the name of fashion.

Whether this equitable approach is the answer is not for us to judge. But there was an earnestness that underpinned this approach. Some may read this artistic choice as a gimmick, but if that label is anything that sparks conversation and propels new ideation, perhaps it’s a fitting sobriquet.

This article first appeared originally on GRAZIA International.