Glenn Martens is named Maison Margiela’s creative director

It’s Martens at Martin. Glenn Martens is the new creative director of Maison Margiela, the company announced today.

“I have worked with Glenn for years, I have witnessed his talent, and I know what he is capable of,” said OTB chairman Renzo Rosso. “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. Glenn, who studied at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts like Martin, has already shown his prowess and his vision in couture”.

Glenn Martens said: “I feel extremely honoured to join the amazing Maison Margiela, a truly unique house that has been inspiring the world for decades. And I thank Renzo for the trust he is putting in me.”

The Belgian designer, who will remain the creative director of Diesel, will replace John Galliano, who oversaw Margiela between 2014 and last year. Today’s appointment has been heavily speculated upon since Martens exited Y/Project in September 2024. He had spent 11 years at the independent Paris-based label, which has since shuttered. His commercial success at Diesel, allied with the irreverent wit and brilliance of his critically acclaimed work at Y/Project, justly made him the front-runner for the position to which he was confirmed today.

In a recent Vogue Business interview, OTB founder and chairman Renzo Rosso hinted that Martens would be a good fit for the cult luxury house. “Glenn is a couturier, not just a designer. Like John Galliano, couturiers have a different way of designing. Every single piece has a story to tell,” he said as rumours swirled about the company’s next chapter.

In the same article, Bruges-born Martens, 41, responded to the rumours about his future by confirming only that he was focused on raising chickens. That unconventional attitude (to fashion, not chickens) syncs finely with that of the house whose creative leadership Martens is about to assume. There are also some striking parallels between the career arcs of the house’s reclusive founder and that of its new creative director.

As well as sharing nationalities, both Martin Margiela and Glenn Martens graduated from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts: Margiela in 1979, and Martens in 2008. Both men moved to Paris to further their careers, and both began working for Jean Paul Gaultier: Margiela in 1984 and Martens in 2008. This is where their paths — at least for a while — diverged. Margiela co-founded his eponymous brand in 1988. The next step of his eventual successor there, Martens, was to take the helm at Y/Project in 2013.