If the name Glenn Martens isn’t already in your vocabulary, then commit it to memory now. The Belgian-born, Paris-based designer at the helm of Y/Project is part of fashion’s exciting new wave, tearing up the rulebook with urban, real wardrobe vibes. Think wearable, adaptable, versatile pieces, gender fluidity, sexiness in small doses and most of all fun!
On working under John Paul Gaultier/
He’s obviously been one of the biggest stars. Today we don’t respect enough of what he really stands for. I was really lucky that I was picked in my final year in Antwerp to work for him. The archive of Gaultier is beyond amazing. Certain brands copy and paste Margiela, but Margiela took so much from Gaultier. He's the true inventor. The most impressive thing I learnt from him is to always enjoy your work. I think you have other houses in Paris, amazingly respected houses, which are known to be trendsetters, but I think the pressure of being such a trendsetter probably, for the designers and teams, can be really poisonous for the work environment. While I think at Gaultier there was nothing like that whatsoever.
On gender blurring/
Looking back at our history it seemed more than logical to base our girls on our guys … today, 50% of the collection is still unisex. I’ve been playing with these codes since my own label in 2012, I just did not communicate on it. It’s definitely a “thing” now. I guess it reflects the society we live in, a society which is slowly freeing itself from stereotypes and other socio-cultural constraints.
On Y/Project being described as postmodern/
People do love to label things and since my arrival we’ve been labelled in many different ways. But at the end the brand is all about freedom and fun. We’re a young team working 24/7, we want to have fun at work and we want this to be visible in the collections we propose. We want to make people happy.
Read the full interview on Browns HERE