MILAN FASHION WEEK SPRING/SUMMER 2026: DAY 1

editors ELIANA CASA, MAREK BARTEK, MARIA MOTA and MARIE-PAULINE CESARI

DIESEL
review by MAREK BARTEK

all images DIESEL provided by the brand

Glenn Martens opened Milan Fashion Week with one of the most unusual shows this season (if you can call it a show at all): the Diesel Egg Hunt. Rather than a runway, 55 models were posing across the city inside giant oval vitrines, each marked with a QR code. Over 3,000 participants had pre-registered to take part, racing to find the eggs in exchange for prizes. First five people to find all the eggs will win full Diesel looks, before going to Piazza Beccaria for a free concert and drinks. It was fashion recast as public event, underscoring Martens’s belief that Diesel should be “for the people.”

With his hands full at Margiela and the Milan calendar already packed, stepping away from a catwalk felt both pragmatic and on-brand. Diesel has built its recent resurgence on Martens’s instinct for disruption, and the Egg Hunt amplified that, turning collection-viewing into collective experience.

The clothes themselves were no less experimental. Dresses and outerwear came in a new denim-poly satin blend, distressed to give an iridescent-like effect. Hybrid jumpsuits looked ripped apart, held together by knitted webbing, while floral dresses were topped with shredded chiffon at the shoulders. Double-neoprene tailoring gave structure and protection, and bleach techniques applied from the inside out left ghostly x-ray traces on the garments’ surfaces.

Martens described the collection as exploring “the animal within,” and there clearly was something feral about the raw textures and shredded silhouettes. By setting his work loose in the streets, he reminded Milan (and everyone else) that Diesel is made to be chased down.