Renzo Rosso on Diesel's evolution, brand identity, working with Glenn Martens

What do Diesel, Jil Sander, Marni, Maison Margiela and Vikor & Rolf have in common? A strong brand identity, according to Renzo Rosso, the president of OTB – the parent group that owns the aforementioned luxury fashion brands. 

Since founding Diesel in 1978, the Italian jeans mogul has shaped fashion, shifted culture and reflected the zeitgeist. For our exclusive tête-à-tête on a breezy Friday afternoon, our meeting point is his luxury suite at The Silo Hotel in Cape Town, with its signature pillowed glass windows offering a panoramic view of Table Mountain.

Later in the evening, we reconnect at the new Diesel store launch at V&A Waterfront, where a slew of Mzansi’s PYTs Daliwonga, Nomuzi “Moozlie” Mabena, Rich Mnisi, Yung Valentino, Lordkez and DBN Gogo have converged to link up with Rosso.

Second location? The pin drops at Lido Bar with the after-party continuing until the wee hours of Saturday. But first, Rosso lays his cards on the table:

How do you describe the evolution of Diesel?

Diesel is a magical brand. As the founder, it’s my baby. Over the years, it has become one of the most iconic quality brands worldwide. We have done many things and Diesel changed the laws of the fashion industry. We changed how to wear denim.

After 46 years, I’m super proud that it’s still an incredibly cool trendsetter and has a relationship with a young market. I would like to thank Glenn Martens, our creative director. He put an incredible energy and new attitude when he arrived five years ago.

Diesel has always been sex-positive and supportive of the queer community, was it accidental or intentional?

That is part of me and my culture. Creative people, when I started, the most beautiful and talented were gay people. We created beautiful things. The gay community today has developed even more and fluidity is the way to live. Before, there was too much discrimination. I remember in 1995 when I did this picture [for a Diesel campaign] with David LaChapelle [American photographer] with two kissing sailors, the world reacted badly towards me and Diesel.

Why can’t Gen Z get enough of the 1DR bag?

It's the success of our logo. That logo was done more than 30 years ago and Glenn took it from the archives to put it on the bag. It became a success and we are very happy about that. That logo has now become iconic and now we are putting that “D” everywhere. 

Last year, Diesel made a splash at the Met Gala with Kylie Minogue and Dove Cameron. Are you returning?

(Laughs) I’m happy, first of all, for the beautiful relationship we have with Anna Wintour (American Vogue editor). We don’t really drive that, but the VIPs or celebrities call our creative director (Glenn) asking to be specially dressed. For us, it was a success, but it happened naturally from what the creative director had done and the requests from the celebrities.

Why was Glenn the right choice to succeed John Galliano at Margiela?

(Laughs) I love Glenn. It’s been five years working with Glenn at Diesel. Based on what he did at Diesel, he just made sense. We had so many talents who called me to take over the position. John did an incredible job and developed Margiela to be the most iconic couture brand in the world.

We decided it was time to give Margiela some freshness and modernity, that’s why I decided to go for Glenn. I know very well that Glenn is a couturier – Martin Margiela was a couturier, John was a couturier and Glenn is a couturier. Couturiers are not designers, but they are people who, with everything that they do, there is a story.

What is the future of OTB?

I don’t know (laughs). We are a special group. We are a small group compared with the big French group (LVMH and Kering). Every brand that we have has an incredible DNA. Margiela – the fabric, material and silhouette are different. Jil Sander is a beautiful fabric with an incredible silhouette, with no print or logo. Diesel is super cool with the denim.

Marni is this community proud of the seniority of colours. If you looked at the last few fashion weeks, all the big brands are just doing products. You don’t recognise the DNA of the brand. There are so many brands we could acquire, but I want a brand with a very strong identity. So, the future of OTB is that I would love to continue with this philosophy.