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Maison Margiela names new director during Paris Haute Couture Week

Glenn Martens was unveiled as the successor to John Galliano as creative director of the French fashion house

Maison Margiela names new director during Paris Haute Couture Week

Creative director Glenn Martens acknowledges the audience at the end of the Y/Project's Womenswear Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, on March 7, 2023.

Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

John Galliano left Maison Margiela in December after 10 successful years of rising sales

Martens studied at Antwerp's renowned Royal Academy of Fine Arts like Maison Margiela founder

Belgian designer Glenn Martens was unveiled Wednesday as John Galliano's successor as creative director of French fashion house Maison Margiela. The announcement came on a busy day of Haute Couture Week in Paris.

Martens, 41, is currently creative director at Diesel and was promoted internally from within the Italian fashion company OTB Group, which also owns Maison Margiela.

"I have worked with Glenn for years. I have witnessed his talent, and I know what he is capable of," the billionaire chairman and owner of OTB, Renzo Rosso, said in a company statement.

Rosso was instrumental in resurrecting the career of Galliano -- and raising the profile of Maison Margiela -- after the then drug and alcohol-addicted British designer fell from grace in 2011 due to an anti-Semitic rant in a Paris bar.

Galliano left Maison Margiela in December after 10 successful years of rising sales, making him a difficult act to follow.

Martens, who made his name at the now-defunct experimental label Y/Projet, studied at Antwerp's renowned Royal Academy of Fine Arts like Martin Margiela, who founded his eponymous label in 1988.

"After Martin, who gave life to the Maison and its unique Artisanal line, and John, who made it the most cutting-edge couture house in the world, I am proud to have a third couturier at its helm," Rosso added, referring to Martens.

An ensemble of fashion house Maison Margiela from the Haute Couture F/W 2014-2015 collection is displayed at the exhibition "Louvre Couture. Art and fashion: statement pieces" at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, January 23, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

War worries

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Italian brand Valentino, Dutch duo Victor & Rolf, and French designer Franck Sorbier showcased their Spring/Summer 2025 collections during Haute Couture Week. Jean-Paul Gaultier and Lebanon's Zuhair Murad are still to come.

In an increasingly unstable world, Sorbier had war and peace on his mind in a typically theatrical show that combined music, singing, and dance.

Titled "Symphonie barbare" ("Barbaric Symphony"), it featured bare-chested "barbarian" men and female "warriors of peace" dressed in trapeze gowns adorned with tassels or sequins.

It ended with a "peace" phase, with Sorbier appearing in a black anorak bearing the words "peace and love.",

Belgian fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck waves to attendees after his Menswear Ready-to-wear Fall-Winter 2025/2026 collection as part of the Paris Fashion Week in Paris on January 22, 2025. Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

"The idea is not to get stuck in a bubble of haute couture," he told AFP. "Even though we do haute couture, we can still talk about the news and worrying issues without sounding like we're giving lessons to people," he said.

Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck also addressed conflict and unrest in his show during Paris Men's Fashion Week last Wednesday, two days after US President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Van Beirendonck's show featured models with jackets bearing "peace, not war" badges and concluded with "Give Peace a Chance" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Lebanon's Elie Saab also presented his collection on Wednesday, opting instead for escapism with a show inspired by fairy tales.

LVMH slide

Haute Couture Week showcases one-of-a-kind, entirely handmade pieces primarily intended for red carpets, high-profile events, and galas.

The luxury industry is facing a slowdown linked notably to weaker-than-usual economic growth in China.

French fashion powerhouse LVMH, Europe's largest company by market value, reported Tuesday that net profit fell 17 percent last year and sales dropped two percent.

The business, which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Kenzo, among other leading brands, attributed the slide to the end of the "euphoria" of the post-Covid period.

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