Diesel Spring/Summer 2027 arrives in Milan with distressed denim, undone tailoring, sensual proportions and the unmistakable irreverence of Glenn Martens’ final collection for the house.
There was always going to be extra weight behind Diesel’s Spring/Summer 2027 show. Presented in Milan on September 22, the collection marks Glenn Martens’ final runway for Diesel, closing a tenure that began in 2020 and dramatically reshaped the Italian label’s contemporary identity. Martens now turns his full attention to Maison Margiela.
But judging from the menswear, nostalgia wasn’t the assignment.
Instead of treating his departure as an obvious retrospective, Martens delivered a wardrobe that feels lived in, roughed up and intensely physical. Diesel describes the show as a celebration of freedom, confidence, connection and desire, extending its longstanding “For Successful Living” philosophy toward the freedom to live instinctively and on one’s own terms.
And for the men, that freedom frequently means getting dressed as though perfection is the last thing on your mind.
The Diesel Man Gets Dressed — Then Undressed
Looking specifically at the menswear in the runway images, one of the most interesting things is just how much conventional menswear Martens puts through the Diesel machine.
There are suits. Blazers. Oxford-style shirts. Polo knits. Argyle. Bomber jackets. Leather jackets. Jeans. Trench coats.
Nothing, however, remains entirely conventional.
An early lavender suit establishes the proposition beautifully. Its generous jacket and relaxed trousers have an almost traditional menswear vocabulary, but the washed pastel color and deliberately nonchalant styling immediately strip away corporate seriousness.
That tension continues through soft gray tailoring, navy suiting, elongated jackets and layered blazers, frequently paired with trousers that puddle or sit loosely against the body. Some jackets look faded, creased or weathered rather than freshly pressed.
It gives tailoring something Diesel has always understood very well: sex appeal without requiring formality.
Denim Is Still the Language
Of course, this is Diesel.
Denim remains the foundation, but Spring 2027 demonstrates just how far Martens has stretched the material beyond the obvious five-pocket jean during his tenure.
The screenshots show denim moving between pale, almost powdery washes and dirty indigo, appearing in loose jeans, jackets and coordinated looks. One particularly strong menswear outfit pairs a faded blue jacket with matching relaxed trousers and a white shirt underneath. Another reduces the proposition almost completely: a bare torso and tiny denim bottoms.
Then comes one of the runway’s most immediate images—a shirtless male model in loose, faded jeans, with a bright red garment thrown over his shoulder.
These nearly naked interventions matter because they interrupt all that layering.
Suddenly there is no complicated styling to hide behind. It’s just body and denim.
That contrast feels particularly effective in a Diesel collection concerned with desire. The elaborate garments gradually give way to skin, making the body itself part of the styling vocabulary.
Clothes That Look Better After Living in Them
Across the menswear selection, pristine surfaces are noticeably scarce.
Brown leather looks sun-baked. Denim appears worn and washed repeatedly. Gray jackets seem faded. Outerwear has irregular surfaces. Trousers crease and collapse around the legs.
A sleeveless brown leather vest worn against a bare chest looks like something that has survived years rather than just left a showroom. Elsewhere, an elongated distressed leather jacket is combined with trousers whose earthy discoloration almost resembles rust.
Even classic preppy references are disrupted.
A navy V-neck sweater receives a deliberately awkward white graphic around its neckline. Argyle appears beneath distressed outerwear. Check shirts are opened dramatically low across the chest or buried beneath jackets. Traditional layers seem to have been grabbed, borrowed and rearranged.
It creates an intriguing Diesel proposition for Spring 2027:
The clothes don’t become desirable despite looking worn. They become desirable because they look worn.
A Wardrobe Without Hierarchy
One of the strongest qualities visible in the men’s looks is the collision of wardrobes that traditionally wouldn’t belong together.
A sharply cut dark suit can appear alongside a wildly distressed jacket. A conservative blazer gets a lavender layer underneath. A classic striped or checked shirt is opened nearly to the waist. Formal trousers meet battered outerwear.
Then there are splashes of color.
A vivid red crumpled jacket provides an electric interruption against worn denim. Lavender tailoring feels unexpectedly romantic. Yellow and orange checks introduce warmth, while a floral or abstract coral shirt with pale green trousers pushes the collection toward something almost resort-like.
Rather than separating office clothes, club clothes, workwear and weekend clothes, Martens throws them into the same wardrobe.
That approach is particularly visible in a look combining a brown bomber with an unexpectedly long mustard layer and olive cargo trousers. Another places a heavily reconstructed, almost patchwork coat over otherwise familiar menswear.
The result isn’t really formal or casual.
It’s Diesel.
The Sexy Part Isn’t Subtle
Diesel’s sensuality has rarely depended upon subtle suggestion, and Spring 2027 doesn’t suddenly become shy.
Bare chests appear beneath open shirts and sleeveless leather. Waistlines fall low. Tiny denim shorts expose almost the entire leg. Jeans hang loosely from the hips.
Yet the sexuality doesn’t overwhelm the clothes.
Instead, Martens repeatedly moves between covered and exposed, oversized and abbreviated, tailored and nearly naked. The contrast makes the body more noticeable when it finally appears.
There is also something distinctly masculine about the looseness of these clothes. Jackets hang rather than cling. Pants have room. Shirts are casually unbuttoned. Even suits resist an overly sculpted silhouette.
It’s a sexy Diesel man who looks like he didn’t spend two hours trying to look sexy.
Glenn Martens Leaves Diesel Looking Like Diesel
That may ultimately be the most successful aspect of the menswear.
Martens doesn’t appear to spend his final collection desperately reminding us of everything he accomplished. Instead, the vocabulary he helped establish is simply present: manipulated denim, distressed surfaces, trompe-l’Ĺ“il attitudes, subverted basics, humor, sexuality and an instinct for making something familiar feel slightly wrong.
The full Spring 2027 collection contains 74 looks, and contemporary coverage similarly notes that Martens resisted turning the show into a straightforward farewell retrospective.
His impact on Diesel is nevertheless difficult to separate from what we’re seeing. Vogue notes that during his six-year tenure Martens helped revitalize the company’s image while turning Diesel’s Milan presentations into increasingly ambitious public spectacles
The final menswear images therefore leave us with an appropriate contradiction.
There are suits, but they’re not quite respectable.
There are jeans, but they’re never just jeans.
There are preppy sweaters, but something has gone wrong.
There are beautiful clothes that look beaten up.
And there are men who occasionally look as though they’ve misplaced half their outfit.
After six years of Glenn Martens at Diesel, perhaps that’s exactly how the goodbye should look.
Discover Diesel Spring/Summer 2027
