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Maison Margiela names Glenn Martens new creative director during Paris Haute Couture Week

Martens, 41, is currently creative director at Diesel and was promoted from within the Italian fashion company OTB Group, which also owns Maison Margiela

Published: Jan 30, 2025 10:50:09 AM IST
Updated: Jan 30, 2025 11:00:34 AM IST


Creative director Glenn Martens acknowledges the audience at the end of the Y/Project's Womenswear Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, on March 7, 2023.
Image: Julien De Rosa / AFP© Creative director Glenn Martens acknowledges the audience at the end of the Y/Project's Womenswear Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, on March 7, 2023. Image: Julien De Rosa / AFP©

Belgian designer Glenn Martens was unveiled Wednesday as the successor to John Galliano as creative director of French fashion house Maison Margiela on a busy day of Haute Couture Week in Paris. 

Martens, 41, is currently creative director at Diesel and was promoted internally from within the Italian fashion company OTB Group which also owns Maison Margiela. 

"I have worked with Glenn for years. I have witnessed his talent, and I know what he is capable of," the billionaire chairman and owner of OTB, Renzo Rosso, said in a company statement. 

Rosso was instrumental in resurrecting the career of Galliano—and raising the profile of Maison Margiela—after the then drug and alcohol-addicted British designer fell from grace in 2011 due to an anti-Semitic rant in a Paris bar.

Galliano parted company with Maison Margiela in December after 10 successful years of rising sales, making him a hard act to follow.

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Martens, who made his name at now-defunct experimental label Y/Projet, studied at Antwerp's renowned Royal Academy of Fine Arts like Martin Margiela, who founded his eponymous label in 1988. 

"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," Rosso added, referring to Martens.

Also read: Maria Grazia Chiuri delves into past for what could be her last Dior fashion show

War worries

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Italian brand Valentino, Dutch duo Victor & Rolf and French designer Franck Sorbier showcased their Spring/Summer 2025 collections during Haute Couture Week, with Jean-Paul Gaultier and Lebanon's Zuhair Murad still to come. 

In an increasingly unstable world, Sorbier had war and peace on his mind in a typically theatrical show that combined music, singing and dance.

Titled "Symphonie barbare" ("Barbaric Symphony"), it featured bare-chested "barbarian" men and female "warriors of peace" dressed in trapeze gowns adorned with tassels or sequins.

It ended with a "peace" phase and concluded with Sorbier appearing in a black anorak bearing the words "peace and love."

"The idea is not to get stuck in a bubble of haute couture," he told AFP. "Even though we do haute couture, we can still talk about the news and worrying issues, without sounding like we're giving lessons to people," he said. 

The theme of conflict and unrest was also picked up by Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck in his show during Paris Men's Fashion Week last Wednesday, two days after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump. 

Van Beirendonck's show featured models with jackets bearing "peace, not war" badges and concluded with "Give Peace a Chance" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Lebanon's Elie Saab also presented his collection on Wednesday, opting instead for escapism with a show that drew inspiration from fairy tales.

Also read: Paris Men's Fashion Week: Louis Vuitton, Willy Chavarria, Simon Porte Jacquemus gear up for showing

LVMH slide

Haute Couture Week showcases one-of-a-kind, entirely handmade pieces which are primarily intended for red carpets, high-profile events, and galas.

The luxury industry as a whole is facing a slowdown linked notably to weaker-than-usual economic growth in China.

French fashion powerhouse LVMH, Europe's largest company by market value, reported Tuesday that net profit fell 17 percent last year and sales dropped two percent.

The business, which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior and Kenzo among other leading brands, attributed the slide to the end of the "euphoria" of the post-Covid period. 

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