• Share

Y/Project a/w 2016-17

Streetwear and couture

A few weeks ago, the finalists of the prestigious LVMH Award were announced: among the candidates was  the name of Glenn Martens (the creative mind behind the interesting Y/Project brand), who I had the pleasure of interviewing during Paris Fashion Week. Belgian from Bruges, Martens was born in May 1983 and graduated in 2008 from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 2013, he took the reins of the Y/Project brand with menswear, to which was added women’s wear in 2014.

His 2016 F/W Collection groups together the best in the world of street wear and underground, combined with a technical and design capacity at a couturier level, in the highest sense of the word (thanks to his training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp). Shirts, sweaters, blouses, and coats with long ribbons draping the sleeves and on the bottom of pants. These pieces that are so couture represent a sort of collision, with matching jeans, which could be seen worn by rave partygoers in northern Europe. Victorian touches and denim, astrakhan and black leather, grandfather Prince of Wales coats and long skirts that reach the floor, made of the same fabric but matched with sailor sweaters, marvelous ladylike leather gloves, like in the 50’s, and hoodies.  Y/Project  perfectly represents that urgency for new ideas that invaded Paris, making great fashion houses tremble and giving space to young talents, such as Martens.

During my talk with the stylist, I was explained how the collection is intended as a hymn to freedom in life that, in fact, means the possibility to combine couture and street wear. He states to be on a constant search for versatility, interchangeability, and eclecticism – as can be seen in the cultured references and union of garments apparently so far apart from each other by extraction. Finally, he tells of how he is proud to be part of a small group of people who are able to design these collections, which are so composite, speaking with great modesty (a very rare gift today) and makes sure that his words are not proclamations with an intellectualist tone, but true explanations on how he managed to convey so many ideas in the best way possible.

Other pages  in Collezioni Donna 171, autumn winter 2016-17

Donna 171_web - Copy. jpg_Page_271
Donna 171_web - Copy. jpg_Page_270

  • Share