Glenn Martens photographs family and friends to celebrate his tenth year in charge at Y/Project

Glenn Martens has celebrated his tenth anniversary at the helm of Y/Project with a special project. The Belgian designer’s label cancelled its runway show at the recently ended Paris Fashion Week Women at the eleventh hour, without explanation. Y/Project is now back under the spotlight with a special lookbook presenting its Fall/Winter 2023-24 collection. Martens invited relatives and friends to the photoshoot, including a posse of celebrities such as Russian top models Irina Shayk and Natasha Poly, and highly controversial US rapper Kanye West.

 
Posing for French photographer Arnaud Lajeunie were artists like composer Senjan Jansen, British pop singer Charli XCX, US rapper Tyga, Belgian electronic musician Max Colombie (a.k.a. Oscar and the Wolf), and an array of editors-in-chief and fashion stylists for cutting-edge magazines, among them Mel Ottenberg (Interview Magazine), Olivier Zahm (Purple), Haley Wollens (Myth Magazine), Camille Bidault Waddington, Georgia Pendlebury, Christopher Simmonds and others. 
 
The photoshoot’s high-calibre cast also included family and close collaborators of Glenn Martens, from his father Matthias Martens to Amaury Martin, head of communication at Y/Project, designer Aline Ghosn, several models who have worked for the label, and various colleagues of Martens. For example, Lamine Badian Kouyaté, founder and designer of the Xuly Bët label, British footwear designer Lily Standefer, as well as surprise celebrity guests, like Belgian sprinter and Olympic gold medallist Elodie Ouédraogo.

Martens also invited Frédérique Hazout, who introduced him to Y/Project, the Parisian label set up in 2010 by Yohan Serfaty. Martens first became Serfaty’s assistant, and then took over the baton in 2013 after he passed away.

In 10 years, Martens has broadened the scope of the label, initially focused on menswear, by introducing women’s ready-to-wear and accessories, and by adding new creative élan to its style. Martens’s bold, inventive and unexpectedly constructed looks have become popular in the last decade, as shown again by the new collection featuring destructured tops, trompe-l’œil trousers and corkscrew shapes.
 
Martens studied interior design in Bruges and later graduated from the Royal Academy in Antwerp. He has made his mark in fashion through his creativity, reinventing the classic menswear and womenswear wardrobe. An ANDAM winner in 2017 and 2020, Martens explores themes like garment architecture and construction, modularity, reversibility and versatility, creating multi-functional clothes open to all kinds of interpretations.