I gather the designer in charge of Gaultier here — Glenn Martens of Y/Project, who also apparently just took over Diesel — is only doing it for one season, and Vogue had a lot to say about that in a way that I thought cast some subtle shade on other designers who’ve taken over legendary houses:
“It is not C as in collaboration (a word which is looking increasingly passé) but C as in conversation, a constant state of respectfully going back and forth between incoming designer and the heritage of the house. […] Signing Martens up to take on the mantle of designer for one season was a canny and prescient move, given that his star is now firmly in the ascendant. He’s highly unlikely to care too much about any kind of exaltation of himself — he’s refreshingly immune to industry B.S. for one thing, and for another, he’s an avowed team player.”
That line about “exaltation of himself” raised my eyebrow. It speaks to my feelings about what’s happening at Burberry, for example. I almost ran that Y/Project collection when it happened during Menswear week; maybe I’ll put it up one weekend for comparison’s sake. People seemed excited about it.
