Diesel disrupts Milan Fashion Week with spectacular set design and color-drenched collection

The show is nothing short of a beautiful mess.

Always dancing between defiance and allure, Diesel delivered a visual display that turned heads from every hemisphere. Last February 24 at Milan Fashion Week, the Italian fashion brand flaunted an iteration of its signature rebellion, steeped in provocation over predictability.

*Glenn Martens | Photo from FashionNetwork*

Creative director Glenn Martens commanded the runway with real cultural connection, deepening the dialogue with at least 50,000 artifacts from the label’s previous shows, parties, events, object displays, and even offices. From dinosaur figures and animal inflatables to adult toys and household trinkets, Diesel Fall/Winter 2026 was a full-on spectacle that showcased memory, memorabilia, and the makings of modern excess.

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In one exclusive interview, Martens also illustrates how the artistic storytelling took shape. “Think of all the parties Diesel has thrown in its 48-year history. We wanted to show that,” he cites. “There are even things we have given each other for birthdays, objects from employees’ desks, and costumes worn at [Diesel founder and OTB (Only The Brave) Group chairman] Renzo Rosso’s birthday parties—because he always likes to have birthday parties.”

Inspired by “Walk of Shame” insignias, Martens notes that the narrative centered on social celebrations. “This walk of shame—you own it, you’re gorgeous, you don’t really know where you woke up, [and] how you woke up. But you leave, you’re happy and beautiful, and you don’t give a shit.”

Archives as runway architecture

Before a single silhouette surfaced, Diesel’s bold set design spoke first. The stage featured a sprawling sea of salvaged souvenirs—pieces of personal paraphernalia, random workplace relics, and literal fragments of former lives. The jam-packed production wasn’t just decoration; it was documentation waiting to be witnessed. Between the past’s discarded furniture and forgotten debris, a present breeze animated the stagnant air.

Where conventional runways remain restrained and refined, Diesel chose density and deviation. The floor became a field, and the models didn’t simply walk; they waded, strutted, and drifted with menace—admired along a path of sentimental props that serve as testament to history and fashion heritage.

Of pastels and patinas

What made Diesel’s latest Milan outing so magnetic is its subversion and fearless flirtation with color and corrosion—polished but perverted. A collision of familiar yet fractured collection thrives on tension: shades of sherbet and steel, a palette of pistachios and pinks, and sunset-stained streaks.

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Denim, Diesel’s defining dialect, is reinterpreted with a painterly rendering; oversized, washed-out, and worn-out outerwear read like luxury regalia; speckled fibers and sustainability hints highlight elongated and intentionally estranged ensembles; sculpted skirts swing in motion; and material cohesion stretches styling character. Together, these eccentric formats find fruition—not to neglect tradition but to evolve it beyond template.

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