Y/Project‘s creative director Glenn Martens is known to walk the tightrope between good taste and bad, usually pulling from a grab bag of wide-ranging pop cultural and historical references. In his hands, fashion moments from the early 2000s can easily bump up against those from the 1500s. The designer has borrowed from the architecture of Elizabethan armor to refigure the classic blue jean in the past, and for autumn-winter 2020 he took that risqué, deep-V silhouette into more refined territory. His version of a classic tuxedo was elongated along the body, with a blazer turned bodysuit that fit neatly between each suspended trouser leg (as Martens explained, a hidden belt and secret cycling shorts were responsible for the floating effect on these pants). In Y/Project’s collections, it’s the subtle twists and turns that stand out the most. Martens has perfected his askew approach to tailoring, as evidenced in the sleek opening look. But in general, it seems to me that Martens’ work starts to get repetitive: it used to spark more intrigue in his previous seasons. Maybe it’s just a phase.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.