Y/Project. Spring 2023 - Paris Fashion Week

(Images.Y/Project 2022)

Glenn Martens deconstruction styles have continued to hold the line, since he took the reigns of Y/Project in 2013.    Having learnt his craft from the famous Antwerp design school, the Belgium fashion designer has shown in an intrinsic and original manner, his unique stylizations of the avant-garde,  keeping in step with his reworking of feminine and masculine looks, whilst fusing the sexes together.  However, as noted with most of Martens unisex runway shows, it has always been the fluidity of the feminine that shines through with this collections. 

Undoubtable the trends emerging for 2022 and going into 2023, are the dystopic, gothic and avant-garde styles that have been gracing the runways after the 2020 pandemic, which would make sense as a reflection of the very tumultuous times that we're all living  in, despite what might seem to be post COVID-19 world, we could be in the era of viral outbreaks in lieu of climate change and deforestation.  And fashion has always been that visual medium in its portrayal of societal trends, whether negative or positive, the aesthetics remain the same as both an escapism and desire to be accepted, yet it is the rebel and individual who have always risen through the turmoil.   And for the independent fashion designer, such as Martens, it is that balancing act of creating something that sells into a niche market, while maintaining an integrity under the weight and expectations of a competitive fashion industry.

Y/Project Spring 2023 collection is both Martens eros driven avant-garde mixed with a steampunk feel, via the rustic styling and retro futurism looks.  Incorporating distressed denim, leathers pieced together in a patchwork array.  The collection offers both a modernist styling with Martens postmodern breaking down of traditional styles, in a homage to the sub-genre of dystonian looks. Which would be the ambiguity of a fictionalized steam driven future ala the Victorian Industrial age, with new technologies and hope of a future that never was.  His latest collection offers that retrofuturist fantasy, at least atheistically, that one can be immersed into.

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(A.Glass 2022)